Mr. Speaker, I will use the minute I have left to reiterate the need to increase the number of representations.
I have a letter signed by a U.S. treasury department customs official on June 18, 1980, that clearly claims a certain tolerance at this border point.
We are indeed asking for a smart border, in other words a border where customs officials can make decisions according to reality, having regard to the actual circumstances. The idea is not to exempt Mr. Jalbert from the application of the law. He told me this personally. I think he learned the lesson of his life at this border point.
Would it not be possible for the Canadian government, by circulating this document or using some other means, to keep making representations without being accused of interference with the U.S. legal system, so that Mr. Jalbert can go back to his family and we can resolve the custom issue in Pohenegamook? The bottom line is that the cause of the present situation is much more than a simple matter of physical installations.