I rise to speak in support of Bill C-18. I thank the Government of Canada for initiating this action. I would also like to mention a few concerns we have about the safety and concerns of our citizens and also the perspective the customs officers union presented to us. The customs officers were quite supportive that this bill would pass in order for them to do their job properly and in a more stringent matter so that they can protect especially the citizens in border towns.
The reservation I have is that the government in order to increase resources into the customs area will decrease resources from other police sources, that is the RCMP or that of local police officers. We encourage the government not to do that. We are quite pleased that it will include more resources for customs officers in order to do their job better.
I ask the government that when this bill is passed, which we hope will be very soon, to make sure the resources are there for the proper training of our customs officers to handle situations that at this time they have not been able to do.
On behalf of groups like Mothers Against Drunk Driving and other organizations which are fighting very hard in this country to get drunk drivers off our roads, I wish to thank the government as well as the official opposition and other opposition parties in the House for their support in passing this bill as quickly as possible.
On behalf of the New Democratic Party we do support this bill. We thank the government for its encouragement.