Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the opportunity to raise another aspect regarding the border. There seemed to be a blood pressure competition in the previous exchange, but I will start by laying out some of the facts and hopefully, encourage the government to take some action on a very serious issue.
In the past there were arrangements with emergency service providers in many communities on the Canada-U.S. border. Before 9/11 there was often the exchange of patients to hospitals, as well as fire and rescue services that helped each other out on the other side of the border. The city of Windsor, for example, was prevented from burning because Detroit firefighters came over to help. We have reciprocated as well during various emergencies.
There was a troubling incident on November 12 when Mr. Rick Laporte was being transported to an American hospital for heart surgery. It was a very delicate matter and he was detained for five minutes because of border procedures. An automatic system triggered which stopped him from proceeding, which was very dangerous because of Mr. Laporte's condition. Fortunately, he has recovered and is doing well. We wish him and his family the best.
What prompted my question to the minister was the pattern of behaviour that we have seen. The week before the incident with Mr. Laporte, firefighters from Quebec who were going to assist in a fire at the Anchorage Inn in New York were detained for 15 minutes and the inn burned to the ground.
We have been trying to get the government to establish a formal protocol and policy with the United States. The minister has refused, which is very perplexing.
Many mayors across the country have asked for support. In particular, Mayor Bradley from Sarnia has been doing a very good job of pushing this issue because there are protocol arrangements with firefighters in Port Huron. The minister wrote back to the mayor.
It must be understood that this is not just about Sarnia, Windsor, Sault Ste. Marie or Fort Erie. There is a whole series of communities that have, or did have, these types of protocols in place and which are now endangered.
The government said that each municipality or service should negotiate its own agreement with the respective department in the United States. That is ridiculous. We need some leadership from the Minister of Public Safety on this issue. He needs to show some conviction and address this issue.
I was really concerned that the minister did not bring in Mr. Chertoff or Mr. Wilkins, the American ambassador, to discuss this issue at a high level, to get the political will from the Department of Homeland Security and other border service agencies in the United States to get their heads around this. We do not need municipal services in jurisdictions all across this country trying to do one off negotiated agreements. We need a strong set of rules in place because it is important for these services to interchange.
I live in a community on the border. Thousands of people traverse the border every single day, and I can see the heightened level of problems. For example, after we learned of Mr. Laporte's case, we discovered that in the last number of years 10 ambulances had been stopped. We know it is possible, for example, for Windsor to send information and so forth to the department to get the clearances but at the same time we do not need separate municipal agreements across this country with different services. It is not supportable.
I am asking the government to look at the situation and for the minister himself to show leadership and conviction on behalf of all municipalities to put these agreements in place.