Madam Speaker, I rose in this House with regard to issues on the Canada-U.S. border related to the provision of services for Canadians with permanent resident status or landed immigrant status. The Trump initiative would actually set out a ban that would prevent these individuals from entering the United States.
Why this is pertinent, for those who are not from my area, is that the Windsor-Detroit region has a significant portion of the trade between Canada and the Untied States. In fact, 35% of Canada's daily trade with the United States takes place within two kilometres of the border. As well, about 10,000 health care professionals per day cross into the United States to provide services in their hospital system.
We also rely on emergency services in the United States. If we want to travel up the highway, it could take up to two hours to get to London facilities. When we have premature babies, women with high-risk pregnancies, or children who have some type of health emergency, it is often quicker to get them to the Detroit region. It also applies to adults.
In fact, one of the first cases we dealt with related to this problem was an ambulance carrying a patient who was actually having a heart attack and was going across the Canada-U.S. border to get to medical treatment. It was delayed at the border from getting to medical treatment, literally a kilometre away. It was not because the proper process had not taken place but was because of documentation. That problem was fixed, and a protocol was put in place.
The Trump initiative has turned things upside down, so to speak. We had a number of different questions from our hospitals related to ensuring that children in life-and-death situations or mothers with high-risk pregnancies would be allowed to get into the United States. That is important, because the victims of these policies could be anyone, from a refugee to someone with permanent resident status.
Let us look at it in terms of the two groups. Refugees are those Canada has allowed to come into Canada. They have gone through the proper security process and screening. They are predominantly women and some children who might need medical attention right away.
With regard to refugees' contributions to Canada, we just have to look at our governor generals or out in the world. Albert Einstein was a refugee. These individuals can go on and have gone on to do tremendous things.
Permanent residents, who are also under suspicion and may not be allowed into the United States, also have an issue. They have gone through our vetting or immigration process and are just waiting for the test to be applied to them. Again, we are talking about individuals who are either women who are pregnant or children who are vulnerable because of medical conditions.
The question was about sorting this out. At the time, the minister indicated that they had protocols in place. The fact is that I was in constant discussions with border people and protocol people from the hospitals, and there was no certainty.
I would like an update. On the border we do not have much of a choice. Again, these are life-and-death situations we are talking about. These are people who have been vetted through the entire system, and once again, they are extremely vulnerable women and children.