International Trade committee  I would echo those comments. The reality is that there seems to be the assumption that there has not been consultation, that this is a discussion that's in secret, and that it is all about big business to the exclusion of everybody else. In our experience, that really has not been the case.

International Trade committee  There clearly are, in our view, products for which a North American standard makes sense. For example, we talked about the proverbial movement of cars back and forth, and as they move back and forth, more and more products are added to them. That's just a reality. But all the different components have a U.S. standard and a Canadian standard.

International Trade committee  If I may, I think if you look at the border as a wall--and we talked about this before--when we talk about infrastructure we talk about doors through that wall, access points. The reality is that if your door is jammed, you're not going to be able to get into your house, and the more doors you have, the easier it is to get into the house and the easier it is to get out of the house.

International Trade committee  Those are all very good questions. The reality is that everyone wants to integrate. The Europeans want to integrate further. I was in Beijing just last week, and the Asian countries want to integrate further; there is talk of an Asian sensibility that's different from a North American or European sensibility.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. With respect to that particular exercise, one of the big faults, if I can put it in those terms, is the sharing of information. In particular, there was a software that was used. We're getting down to the nitty-gritty here, but the software was supposed to create links that would be portals to allow businesses to understand what the governments on both sides of the border were doing to ramp up the border, to close the border.

International Trade committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  Thank you, sir. That is one of the issues. The other issue is, as you correctly pointed out, that environmental assessments have not yet been done. Interestingly enough, locations have not yet been chosen, and these are, frankly, very fundamental yet enormously basic decisions that come before a discussion of the preclearance issue, which raises complex constitutional and legal arguments.

International Trade committee  Thank you, sir. My colleague, Brian Zeiler-Kligman, will respond to your question.

International Trade committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, members of the committee. Recognizing the time differential, I'll break right into our comments. I understand that these have been passed to you in both English and French. For the most part, I will be sticking to that text. Just to repeat the introduction, my name is Clifford Sosnow.