Mr. Speaker, on April 1, in the form of some cruel joke, the Conservatives shut down the border crossing between Stewart, B.C. and Hyder, Alaska for eight hours every day. The two remote communities share emergency services that will now be closed a full third of the time. Local tourism, mining and other business community leaders say that this is a disaster for the local economy.
It has become so absurd that the Alaska State legislature recently voted unanimously to offer to pay Canada to keep its border open. This has become a ridiculous yet dangerous problem.
When will the minister stand and reverse this idiotic and irresponsible decision?