Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for appearing before the committee today.
Certainly I would say that security is important, and I appreciate the work that's being done on that. I think it's also fair to say that when it comes to security, continental security is paramount. Our greatest threats don't come from within North America, they come from outside North America. In fact, the argument I continually make to congressmen is that they have as much to fear from Cleveland as they do from Toronto. That's a message I think we have to get through. Yet we see a thickening of the border in many different ways that is concerning, that has a major detrimental impact on trade.
In this regard, I'm thinking particularly of the western hemisphere travel initiative and the requirement for passports in June. A lot of the casual travel that we see between our countries is going to be impeded. Only 20% of Americans have a passport; a little over half of Canadians have a passport. We're going to be in a situation where there are a lot of people who are turned away, who just have spontaneous casual travel in mind.
In that regard, my first concern is with respect to the Olympics. There are going to be two billion eyes watching the Olympics. That border point is going to be a huge pressure point. There are going to be a large number of Americans coming to that border with an expectation of being able to come across, only to find that they require a passport.
In talking with many congressmen and congresswomen, this is not something they've given any thought to, and they would agree that it makes sense to push that date for implementation from June until after the Olympics, at a minimum, so we at least don't have to deal with this through the period of the Olympics. It gives a little more time for the enhanced drivers licences to get out into the hands of the population.
I'm wondering with respect to that if you could just talk about the Olympics. What's being done to deal with those concerns on the border? Have you had any conversations with your counterparts in the U.S. about trying to encourage this date to be pushed off until after we're done with the Olympic Games?