On Parliament Hill

Infrastructure gets us to work in the morning and home at night.  It moves our goods to market, connecting our people and businesses with the world and it makes Canada a better place to live and raise a family. In the long term, investments in our public infrastructure position us to succeed in an increasingly competitive global economy.

On Friday December 5th, I was happy to announce $30 million for new border facilities at both Sprague and Boissevain. This funding initiative will support safe and efficient flow of travel and trade across the Canada-United States border.

As many of you know, the Port of Boissevain, located on Highway 10 outside the International Peace Gardens, and the Sprague Port of Entry, located on Highway 12 – a direct route connecting Manitoba, Ontario and Minnesota – provide 24 hour customs links between Canada and the United States and serve as major trucking routes for both imported and exported goods.

To date through 2013-14, the Port of Boissevain has processed more than 164,000 travellers, nearly 21,000 trucks and has made 35 seizures, including a restricted handgun in October which resulted in two subjects being refused entry to Canada.

The Sprague port of entry, one of six Canada/U.S. border crossings in Provencher, has seen more than 180,000 travellers to date in 2013-14, as well as more than 2,500 trucks.

Building and upgrading the vital infrastructure in Boissevain and Sprague will not only provide our frontline officers with the resources they need, it will help foster our country’s economic relationship with the United States, by ensuring the legitimate flow of goods, services and people across our shared border is as efficient as possible.

The work our Border Services Officers do is vital to the strength and security of our borders. Each and every day, CBSA officers help to keep our streets and communities safe, and they help facilitate legitimate trade and travel that is essential to our country’s growth and prosperity.

Since 2006, our Conservative Government has increased frontline border officers by 26% and have provided them with the tools and support they need to do their jobs more effectively. I am pleased that this recent funding will further assist our officers to do their job of protect us.