On June 1st the new passport requirement went into effect on the Canadian/US border. This has been YEARS in the making... now, in order to cross the border into/out of the U.S., you MUST have a passport. Before you just needed ID and proof of citizenship (birth certificate).
As I've said, this has been years in the making... the effective date has been pushed back time after time, so, I figured that it wouldn't really be that big of a deal when it actually happened, but, that was just the American in me a guess. Here's the deal... according to one news article more than half of Canadians currently have a passport... while less than 1/3 of Americans do. So? You may ask. Well, here's the problem. Canada, particularly the border cities, rely heavily on American tourism, specifically during the summer travel time. With only 30% of Americans having passports that means fewer people crossing the border and less money coming into the Canadian tourism economy.
None of this really occurred to me yesterday as I was crossing the border back into Canada after a trip home. I approached the border and there were NO CARS waiting... in ANY of the open lines. There was one car other than myself going through the Nexus line... but I drove right up to the window. Being an American, not considering anything, I made some comment to the border agent that I don't think I've ever seen it that empty before! She just sadly smiled at me.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
It really is a sad world we live in. It's crazy to think that there are people who would like to work, travel, learn, exchange culture, perform acts of charity, trade, make new friends, etc... and yet the government sees the need to interpose itself between people who are voluntarilly desireing to better themselves, their communities and other people. A lot of these passport rules and border restrictions have gone beyond just a simple annoyance and are activelly thwarting the progression of humanity. We are not any safer because of these restrictions, and the unintended consequences of preventing the free movemnt of people and things across borders is damaging in so many ways.
ReplyDeleteHere in Europe, a loosening of border restrictions has been a tremendous economic and cultural benefit. Many countries barely police their borders anymore. The US and Canada are closely tied, and need to be cooperating and encouraging exchange.
(I apologize for that atrocious typing/spelling)
ReplyDelete