Mr. Speaker, I want to report to the hon. member what an excellent meeting I had just a few days ago with President Bush's director of homeland security, Governor Tom Ridge, where we were able to make real progress on the very substantive issues relating to the Canada-U.S. border.
From the very beginning, our understanding of how we could have influence with the United States was based on one of maintaining a respectful distance. It may be our closest neighbour, our biggest trading partner and perhaps our closest friend, but we do not influence it by taking the Alliance recommendations of lying prostrate before them and doing whatever it is--