Mr. Speaker, I appreciated the minister's speech and his exhortation that we would support the bill because he believes it is good for Canada. However, before we decide on that I have a couple of questions regarding the men and women who are protecting our borders.
I understand that there are two categories, the ones who are trained and the ones who, shall we say, are less well trained. I understand that the customs officers have to take a 14 week course, pass with at least a 70% mark and then be subject to a one year probation before becoming a customs officer. However, at the same time, we have others who have to take a two and a half week course without an exam and begin work immediately.
I would like the minister to confirm whether my facts are correct on that basis. He said that the people who were going to be issued this certificate would be drawn from the people on the front lines. I understand that these are younger people with less experience and less training who are the ones who are quite often on the front lines. Is it the people with the two and a half weeks of training and no exam who are going to be issued with the certificates or are the certificates designating these people with the enhanced powers going to be given only to those who have had the full training, passed the exam and the probation? Are we going to let young people with two weeks training on the job run around arresting people? I would like to hear from the minister.