Mr. Speaker, I thank the hon. member from Esquimalt. I want to congratulate him on the good work that he did in the last Parliament on a variety of issues, including the land mine issue which he put a lot of work into.
I share the view of the member. It is very important to protect our borders. A number of initiatives were brought forward in the last Parliament. One was the anti-smuggling initiative that we put forward to ensure that we protect our borders. We are looking at smart borders by utilizing technology.
In the last few years we have invested a lot of money to ensure that we have increased the technology, to share the information with law enforcement officers domestically as well as internationally.
Certainly that is a very important concern. It is something that we as a government dealt with in the last Parliament as well, as the hon. member knows, in terms of trying to ensure that we have adjustment to our taxes to make sure that we have less contraband flowing across the border. I think we are renowned around the world as having one of the best customs offices and some of the best people dealing with our borders.
The hon. member knows of course that we have the largest border of any two countries. It is not easy to manage. However, I think we are doing an excellent job in terms of the resources we have. It is a priority for me to ensure that we protect our borders.
This is another example of our agenda to protect our communities and make our communities safer. I think the hon. member will support this bill because it is very much of some of the things that he has talked about, to protect the safety of our communities and to protect our borders. He can be assured that we will do everything possible to make sure that we reduce any contraband across the border.