Madam Speaker, on November 25, 1997 I asked the question what are we doing as a government to prepare for the coming NAFTA superhighway.
We often have a habit in this place of saying “well, if it is highway it is not a federal responsibility, it is a provincial responsibility and don't talk to us about it”. I must say I was very pleased to hear the minister's response that there is an interparliamentary group working to ensure that we do monitor activities in the United States and that we are paying attention to this issue.
For those who are not familiar with this concept, the NAFTA superhighway is an American idea whereby they are going to build a trade corridor. This is not simply a transportation issue, this is an issue of trade between two countries. This is an issue which is of great concern in a number of border crossings in Ontario because highways are not just places where people drive trucks and cars these days, but they are trade routes. They are, by way of analogy, the railroad passage way of another era.
It is very important that we as a country, particularly when in southern Ontario at one crossing there are exports of more than $200 million worth of goods per year, ensure that there is an adequate highway system. It is going to be more than a highway system, it is going to be a communications system. When these goods are exported or when goods are imported, it will be done in a timely fashion and there will not be interference. For Canadians this is a massive project for trade. Jobs and trade go hand in hand.
I am pleased to know that the government is monitoring this and that in the future the Department of Transport will be ready to move in concert with out American neighbours.