Madam Speaker, the point I am trying to make is this: There has never been such concentration on issues of security in Canada, including resources for police, resources for customs and resources for immigration, particularly in the months following September 11. Both the $280 million expenditure package that was introduced for the current fiscal year and the many billions of dollars that were included in the budget on December 10 indicate the realization that things did change. Unfortunately they changed on September 11 and the case is that the realization is that the risks we face in the world are perhaps more immediate than would have been expected prior to September 11.
In trying to deal with the border, we have an 8,000 kilometre border with the United States and we take pride in the fact that it is the longest undefended border on earth. The reality in approaching the issues dealing with border management is that it is a matter of trying to do risk assessment. We cannot police 8,000 kilometres. Therefore, we have to determine where the risks are and we have to use customs officials in the appropriate manner. Again, in some ways the borders reflect the 19th century need of governments to raise all of their revenue out of customs, whereas today a very small proportion of our revenue is raised out of customs, the bulk both in Canada and the U.S. being from income and consumption taxes.
Therefore, what we are trying to do is not only reflect the new realities as a result of the security risks that September 11 made evident, but also deal with the risk management system in order to ensure that the economic flow across the border is not impeded by our need to ensure security and safety.