Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, for inviting me.
I'm the border customs compliance manager for Leahy Orchards in Franklin Centre. On or about July 16, 2010, the president of Leahy Orchards, Mr. Leahy, received a copy of a letter that was sent to Suzanne Yelle Blair, the mayor of Franklin, advising that the border crossing in Franklin would be closed in April 2011. Shortly afterward, Mr. Leahy sent a communiqué to Claire Jacques, the district manager of the CBSA, Montérégie, and we got a response back that the decision on the closure of the border at Franklin Centre had been made due to budget considerations and that it was more or less a fait accompli. It was done without any consultation, negotiations, or anything.
We are the largest employer, with approximately 230 to 250 employees, in the Haut St.-Laurent. We're the largest employer, and 50% of our production of apple sauce, apple products, and baby food goes to the United States. We process about 175 million pounds of apples and fruit a year. We also are the largest importer of fresh fruit and packaging supplies from the United States in the Haut St.-Laurent region. Taking these facts into consideration, Leahy Orchards would be the largest federal taxpayer in the Haut St.-Laurent region.
Our production facility is approximately three kilometres from the Franklin port crossing. Rerouting truck deliveries and fresh apples from the United States would cost upwards of $100,000 a year for extra fuel and wages.
I personally cross the border once or twice on a daily basis for my daily functions. This represents, for me alone, $6,000 a year. Mr. Rigby said it is 16 kilometres, but it's 16 kilometres to get to the port and to come back to the office. So that 16 kilometres is not 16 kilometres; it's 32 kilometres every day. In the past four weeks I have personally delivered over 200 B-3s, which are customs clearances, for 200 loads of apples in the port of Franklin Centre. Those are commercial, of course.
From speaking on a daily basis to the officers on duty on the U.S. and Canadian sides, I don't know where he got his figures. I really don't know, because there are at least 60 commercial vehicles alone that cross the border. I personally know of C.K. Blair, Havelock, Tannahill, Kingsway, Morrison, Faubert Feeds, and Jean Vincent. These are all commercial loads on a daily and weekly basis that cross at the Franklin Centre border. The number of these commercial vehicles averages at least 60 a week.
Local residents from Franklin, Saint-Antoine-Abbé, Ormstown, Valleyfield, Vaudreuil, Pincourt, and Montreal West Island all use this port going back. A lot of the residents on the west island and the officers have talked to me personally, and they feel that there are more and more on a weekly basis, because there is a set of residents who come in from camping grounds in the United States at Ellensburg, Plattsburgh, Malone, and whatever. This is the closest port for people to get back to Canada, back to Quebec. It is closer than going through the large port with the big waits at Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle and then going to Montreal and crossing the bridge. I was talking to one fellow and he saves approximately 26 miles every trip.
There's also, in the immediate area, another commercial business called Lac des Pins, which is one of the biggest camping resorts in Canada, and a lot of their campers use the local port of Franklin Centre.
Of course, there is the Franklin Centre fire department and the mutual aid services. Mr. Rigby mentioned this. Due to the lack of water and equipment in the rural areas, there is this program. I myself was a fireman for 15 years, and I know that this mutual aid service between the United States and Canada works. It's one of the best programs I've ever been involved with in my life.
I also have information that there is a petition with over 5,000 signatures from the area, which I guess you're going to be getting at a later time, that is going to be presented to this committee.
I personally have been crossing the border for over 50 years in an area of 75 to 100 kilometres along this border in Quebec on a daily or weekly basis. I've seen with my own eyes how the Churubusco, New York, counterpart, on the U.S. side from Franklin, operates, and I've talked to the officers on the site at customs, and they have said that it's impossible for their customs port to operate without the Canadian one working side by side. For rejections, such as, for example, issues of security and refusals, if you refuse a car, truck, or commercial vehicles, which happens—vehicles do arrive at this port, and it's not a commercial port—it would be almost impossible for them to turn the vehicle around back to Canada, unless it's escorted by the state troopers or the border patrol. And they would have to escort them to another port.
I'll hurry up as much as possible; I'm getting to the end.
In conclusion, Leahy Orchards is also a member, and Mr. Douglas knows this, of the Quebec-New York Corridor Coalition. Canada is to maintain and administer their stringent security programs.
The success of Leahy Orchards in the past 25 years has been built on the cooperation of both governments and local ports being open in order to facilitate the facilities in Franklin Centre. I must say that Leahy was quite upset to hear about the closure of the port, especially because of the increased cost impact it is going to have on our business. I'm sure they haven't looked at the other businesses in the area: apples, maple syrup, and all the other businesses. Tourism especially is going to be affected. I travel these roads every day and I see U.S. plates on the cars, in these yards. If they have to go 25 or 30 kilometres out of their way to get to the local merchants, they're not going to be going there.
We believe in budget guidelines, especially in these economic hard times, and in budgets needing to be maintained, but not at a cost to the taxpayers and local businesses. We are sure that CBSA should re-verify its statistics.
Also, in conclusion, we would like to stress that the Franklin Centre port of entry is a vital service to the success of Leahy Orchards. We ask CBSA to reconsider its decision on the closure of this port.
Thank you.