Mr. Speaker, I think the member for Acadie—Bathurst may have just put his finger on a big problem, which is that the minister proposed this idea without necessarily giving it much thought.
If he had given it any thought at all, he would have realized that if we ever decided we wanted a card, we would at least need the reciprocity of our neighbour, for whom we our doing this. If not, we really look like someone who falls all over himself to please his neighbour without ever being asked to do so or having his efforts reciprocated.
That would be like saying that even though I have a lovely home and garden I am going to build a wall around it so as not to make my neighbour feel bad. My neighbour would at least have to ask first before I decide to do something like that.
That is where I will conclude. I think the minister is doing quite a bit of winging it on this one. Nevertheless, what the public wants is a guarantee that his plan will be shelved and that we will not have this issue hanging over our head for years to come.