Provencher MP Vic Toews has dismissed a report by CBC News which indicates the federal government is thinking of closing smaller border crossings.

Toews says the report is absolutely false. "I am responsible for the Canada Border Services Agency. We have never had a discussion with any of the officials in respect of any border closings inside Manitoba. In fact, in my most recent discussions with the American authorities, with Janet Napolitano, the Secretary of Homeland Security in Washington on Monday, we talked about ways in which we could keep smaller border crossings open," said Toews.

Toews says they are looking at things like shared services and facilities and technology to improve accessibility across the border. He notes, there is a shared border office between the Yukon and Alaska which works very well. As for technology, he says it may enable them to re-open border crossings in Saskatchewan and Alberta that were previously closed. They are talking about things like automated crossings, where people would communicate with a border officer via camera and microphone.

Toews was surprised to see specific border crossings named in the CBC story. He says, "I can assure the people from Provencher I have never had those types of discussions with anyone in my department nor have my political staff had those kinds of discussions. I don't know whether this was a lower level public servant raising some ideas for examination but that's certainly not the direction that I want to see CBSA heading into. I want accessibility, not the closure and centralization of ports to bigger areas."

Reporter Daryl Braun interviewed Toews this morning: