Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I also want to thank our witnesses for being here with us today.
I represent a riding just outside of Toronto, in Brampton. It's called Brampton—Springdale. We have a very large transportation hub and also some very large manufacturing facilities, including the Chrysler plant and others. Our city depends a lot on how effectively the border crossing is working.
My question is obviously for you, Mr. Brown. I know that the minister mentioned there's been a 26% increase to front-line personnel and so forth. In terms of the border crossing, especially commercial trade, trucking and so on, what sort of impact has that had on mainly the trucking industry, and what are some of the improvements that have been made over the years?
Especially soon after the 9/11 incident, I know there were significant delays at the border crossing at the time. I wasn't elected then. I was working in the manufacturing sector, and we experienced some of those delays first-hand. It had a huge impact on our businesses and in businesses in general, obviously. As we know, the U.S. is our largest trading partner.
I'm wondering if you can shed some light on some of those areas.