Mr. Speaker, the treaty that was referenced goes back to 1817 and actually allowed for armaments on vessels. However, the amendment to that treaty allowing what is happening today with machine guns on the coast guard vessels was done by the former government in April 2003.
I can tell members that from the point of view of border security, there is a 60-day comment period on this new process by the U.S. coast guard. On the point of border security, we are going to raise the concerns that Canadians have raised, the possible dangers in those particular waters. The ministry of the environment has also raised issues of environmental concerns. We are raising those concerns.