Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Welcome to the witnesses. I appreciate your taking the time.
As a member from the interior of British Columbia, I'm going to direct some questions to Mr. Paddon.
I spent my youth in Vancouver, so I experienced the building of the freeway out to Hope. That was a big challenge for Vancouver at the time. That was many years ago, so you can get an idea of how old I am.
First of all, thank you for acknowledging our government for the investment in the Canada Line and also, of course, the Evergreen Line. We are committed to Vancouver and those transportation needs, so thank you for mentioning that.
One of the challenges that I think we're facing in that corridor between Seattle and Vancouver is the fact that we could be hurting another mode of transportation: YVR, Vancouver International Airport. Our B.C. caucus met with the cruise ship lines, and of course they're moving half their business out of Vancouver down to Seattle. The reason they're doing it is that some of their passengers can fly into Seattle $300 cheaper than flying into YVR. That is a challenge.
If all of a sudden there is this cheap high-speed rail from Seattle to Vancouver, do you think it would compromise YVR in terms of some of the residents in the Fraser Valley travelling to Seattle to use their airport? Also, would it further compromise maybe the cruise ship lines into moving all their operations there?