Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
I would also like to thank Mr. Jolicoeur, Ms. Hébert, Mr. Bourduas, Ms. George and Mr. Fracassi for their comments.
I have concerns about why we need to arm border guards. I think our Liberal government consistently argued against it. As agencies, your mission now is to implement the decision that was made politically by the new government, the Conservative government. But I think there are much less costly solutions and much safer solutions.
Let me ask a couple of more targeted questions.
First, Mr. Bourduas, as a public safety officer, do you think this is going to create more violence? It seems to me it has the potential to create more violence or greater risk of violence at our borders. I know that you're going to be training individuals and training the trainers to be prepared. If most, or 80% to 90%, of our trade and commerce and the passage of individuals goes through seven or eight of our border operations--borders like Detroit-Windsor, like Fort Erie-Buffalo, etc.--wouldn't another option be to provide 24/7 response by the RCMP, to call them in as required, rather than going through this billion-dollar border gate? That's the number I've heard. It's going to cost a billion dollars over 10 years to train and equip these people. Isn't there a less costly solution and one that would actually make our borders more safe?