Good
Morning.
I am very pleased to be here on my first official visit as the new
Minister for National Revenue. And what a better place to start
than here in Toronto at the center of Canada's
business world.
Everybody in this room knows the border is the very heartbeat of our
economy. We--like our American cousins--are a trading nation and that
border heartbeat; is vital to our very survival.
After all we do $1.9 billion
in trade every day with the
United States.
But--as you are aware--on September 11 that border heartbeat became
irregular.
When terror came calling; security and safety took the front seat and
we--with our partners in the United States--moved swiftly to defend
freedom and fight terror.
We now need to ensure that the border heartbeat is steady, regular,
secure and vital.
We are getting there. Just Last Weekend Canadian Finance Minister Paul
Martin and U.S. Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neil agreed Canada and the
U.S. could not allow terrorists to
dictate our border policy.
This government has applied resources, legislation and Canadian will to
make our borders work. Ladies and gentlemen, I can tell you that the
government of Canada has made a
strong commitment to support the competitiveness of Canadian business
without compromising the security, health, and safety of this country.
Current State of the Border
Our borders and the processes we have in place to manage them are
absolutely critical to our ability to provide Canadians with the
security and economic growth and opportunity which they expect. This
must be done in the face of enormous volumes of traffic, which arrive at
our borders on a daily basis.
Every day 300,000 travellers enter Canada and we process 40,000
commercial shipments on a daily basis.
These volumes have been growing annually and will
continue to grow with each succeeding year. This is the reality today
and will continue to be the reality of tomorrow.
The challenge now is to do all this in the post-September 11th
environment. Not only have we risen to meet this challenge, I can tell
you that we will continue to work
towards solutions to the remaining border issues.
Partnerships with the United
States
We have been working closely with the United States on issues of border
security and trade facilitation. As you know, Minister Manley and
Minister Cauchon met with Governor Ridge in Ottawa, where they signed a
declaration for the creation of a Smart Border for the 21st century
between Canada and the US.
I think American Ambassador Paul Cellucci gave a great progress report
to journalists last week when he said: "we're making great
progress. The goal here is to have as many of the 30 points of the
action plan actually implemented by the time President Bush and Prime
Minister Chretien meet around the G8 summit in June".
This is a can-do attitude by both Americans and Canadians to make this
border work for everybody.
What we have is an aggressive thirty-point action plan for enhanced
security at our external borders as well as for the streamlined movement
of people and goods across the shared
border.
This action plan is designed to tighten border security while addressing
congestion at our busiest ports of entry.
Indeed, Canada and the US are on the same page when it comes to border
security and trade facilitation.
Ambassador Cellucci also indicated negotiations were progressing well
toward new border crossing systems that could allow security to focus on
the sources of greatest potential threat by giving special treatment to
commercial traffic and individuals who routinely cross the border for
work or business.
Facilitating Trade and Travel
For Canada's part, it means moving forward on ways to manage the border
in a cooperative way. Specifically, we are now moving on common customs
security standards, information
sharing practices and systems, and joint passenger and commercial
processing programs at the US/Canada border.
Innovative joint programs are designed to speed up and streamline the
processing of low-risk travellers and commercial shipments.
For travellers, as you may know, the NEXUS program is a joint initiative
among the four border agencies in Canada and the United States.
It was temporarily suspended in the immediate aftermath of September
11th however, both countries were determined to restore NEXUS as quickly
as possible, recognizing the
valuable role it plays in promoting trade, tourism, and travel between
Canada and the US.
With the re-instatement of the program, we have accelerated the
evaluation of NEXUS and are working towards expanding the program on a
bi-national basis at ports of entry across the shared border.
On the commercial side, our
Agency launched the Customs
Self-Assessment (CSA) program last December.
It marked the beginning of our new way of doing business with the trade
community to streamline the movement of legitimate goods across the
border.
In fact, CSA further positions us as one of the most advanced customs
organizations in the world -- undoubtedly, an advantage for Canadian
businesses in today's competitive world.
The CSA program is based on a sound risk management regime that
streamlines the movement for our identified low risk traders. We intend
to present CSA as a model for harmonizing our commercial processing with
the US.
CSA all at once facilitates the movement of low risk goods while
increasing security.
I urge your to engage your counterparts across the border in an effort
to adopt CSA and a joint program to process goods both ways at our
shared border.
Investing in Border
Management
Before September 11th, we had a clear strategy for dramatically changing
the way we manage customs. Simply put: risk management, supported by
state-of-the-art technology,
will promote a more secure and efficient border.
It was a good strategy before September 11th, and has now become
critical in the environment which we live in today.
I mentioned earlier that this government is committed to supporting the
competitiveness of Canadian business.
The recent budget earmarked 430 million dollars for the Canada Customs
and Revenue Agency. In total, since February 2000 over half a billion
dollars has been budgeted towards
border security and facilitation.
This government is serious about its commitment to the current state of
the border as well as that of the future.
The Future of the Border
Sharing intelligence, advanced electronic information, and pre-screening
are the keys to the future of border management.
While we have already begun with programs such as NEXUS and CSA, we
still continue to work aggressively and quickly with the US to move
toward effective joint border management.
For example, we are pursuing the implementation of pre-approval programs
such as the Expediting Passenger Processing System for transborder
flights.
EPPS will allow pre-approved air travellers to self-clear at a kiosk
using biometrics, and pay duties and taxes with a credit card.
Our US colleagues have agreed to explore the possibility of joining us
the EPPS which would become NEXUS Air.
We are also in the process of sharing best practices in order to ensure
enhanced security at our international airports and seaports.
Our aims are continued trade facilitation while enhancing border
protection.
Conclusion
Although much has been done in the last five months to address the
current issues of border management we know there is still quite a bit
of work ahead of us.
Your support during this time has been wonderful and greatly
appreciated. And it's at this time that we need your support more
than ever. Both government and business must work together to improve in
security-related areas.
I am confident that we are on the right track with our plans for a
secure and efficient border between Canada and the US. And, I believe
that these plans will benefit Canadian
businesses.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today.
