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pampango

(24,692 posts)
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 02:54 PM Apr 2013

U.S. ambassador rules out open border with Canada, cites sovereignty

The U.S. ambassador to Canada says a European Union like arrangement where citizens can freely cross national borders is not in the cards on this side of the Atlantic.

David Jacobson says each European country has had to partially surrender sovereignty and he doesn't think the U.S. or Canada would be willing to do that.

Jacobson made the comments while speaking to students at Simon Fraser University in Surrey, B.C.

Both countries have signed the Beyond the Border pact, which is designed to speed trade across the 49th parallel while protecting the continent from terrorist threats.

http://www.timescolonist.com/u-s-ambassador-rules-out-open-border-with-canada-cites-sovereignty-1.104400

I would understand some reluctance on the part of Canada, with its relatively progressive society, to have open borders with a much larger, less progressive country. But this is the US ambassador to Canada (not Canada's ambassador to the US) who is proclaiming that open borders are "not in the cards".

France and Germany can trust each other, but the US cannot trust Canada?

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upaloopa

(11,417 posts)
2. We went to Canada a lot when I was a kid. Didn't need any documentation.
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 03:01 PM
Apr 2013

just stopped at a check point then we drove on in.

pampango

(24,692 posts)
5. That changed in 2004 under Bush with the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative.
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 03:13 PM
Apr 2013

Since June 2009, everyone from every country arriving in Canada by air, land and sea has needed a passport or equivalent travel document. (Some exceptions apply to children's passport requirements). Besides an up-to-date passport, visitors may instead have an equivalent travel document, such as a NEXUS Card.

...the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative (WHTI), which was introduced in 2004 by the U.S. government to strengthen U.S. border security and standardize travel documentation.

This friendly border crossing agreement used to be mutual; however, now the WHTI requires that U.S. citizens have a passport to return home. In this way, passport requirements for Canada and U.S. borders are different on paper, but, are in practice, the same. Canada will not allow a U.S. citizen into the country who does not have the proper documentation to return home.

Sounds like Canada wants you to have a passport to get into Canada because the US government now requires us to have it in order to get back into our own country.

 

quinnox

(20,600 posts)
3. There might be security concerns
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 03:04 PM
Apr 2013

I know they are pretty strict at border crossings in Canada. Me and my friend were even stopped, and detained, and our vehicle examined once. I think that in the past, they even caught a terrorist who was trying to enter into America before. So that might have something to do with it.

Trillo

(9,154 posts)
4. "designed to speed trade across the 49th parallel while protecting the continent from terrorist
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 03:06 PM
Apr 2013

threats."

Money crosses borders freely, people may not. This is perhaps the primary economic manipulation of supply/demand and so called "free markets". People can't easily migrate to where wages are higher, but corporations can easily move money to locations where wages are lower.

MineralMan

(146,192 posts)
6. The last time I went to Europe, the orchestra bus went to
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 03:16 PM
Apr 2013

or through six different countries. The only times I showed my passport were when I landed at Heathrow and when I left from Antwerp. Never got it out at any other time. The bus sailed through the borders, with a wave from whoever was staffing the border crossings.

That seemed very civilized to me, actually.

pampango

(24,692 posts)
7. Well put. It is 'very civilized' - but not very 'American' in the view of our ambassador to Canada.
Mon Apr 8, 2013, 03:42 PM
Apr 2013

Perhaps another indication of how 'civilized' our respective societies are?

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