Mr. Speaker, I would look forward to a prolonged discussion on that balance of individual and collective rights. As I said, as Conservatives, our budget has the balance about right.
In reference to the near perfection of my colleague, the Minister of Finance, I am sure the member opposite realizes that at times it is necessary to introduce a little levity into the equation here. The Minister of Finance can deal with his own state of perfection. That is something he will have to answer for.
In terms of the problem related to the border and the WHTI, the western hemisphere travel initiative, it was our Prime Minister who made this a priority issue at the Cancun meetings with President Bush. President Bush and our Prime Minister each designated a person to deal with this. I will be working with Secretary Chertoff. He is head of Homeland Security in the United States.
We already have what we could call a concession, but let us not use a pejorative sense either way; we have agreement on the U.S. side that alternative documents will be acceptable. It does not necessarily have to be a passport when the congressional law kicks in on January 1, 2008. It does not necessarily have to be a version of their national identity card.
That is why we are now engaging officials to work on what documents would be acceptable and why we are addressing that question, but the U.S. side has at least said it is going to work on some alternatives.
We are not aggressively pursuing at this time what would be seen as a national identity card. We are encouraging Canadians to get a passport. It is the quickest way to make sure of getting access across the border, but for now, and for the next year and some, at land borders, a driver's licence and birth certificate will suffice. After January 1, 2008, there will be an extra requirement. We are working on those alternative documents now.