April 15, 2005

WASHINGTON -- A contentious new security plan requiring Canadians to have passports when entering the United States would "disrupt the honest flow of traffic" and should be changed, President George W. Bush said Thursday.

"I think there's some flexibility in the law and that's what we're checking out right now," Bush told a gathering of American newspaper editors, adding that electronic fingerprint imaging could "serve as a so-called passport for daily traffic."

"When I first read that in the newspaper about the need to have passports, particularly the day crossings that take place . . . I said, 'What's going on here?' " Bush told the convention.
"I thought there was a better way to expedite the legal flow of traffic and people," he said.
The proposal, announced last week by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, was widely criticized by those who feared it would disrupt the tourist trade and cost businesses big money on both sides of the border.

The new anti-terror measures would end the ability of Canadians to simply produce a driver's licence or birth certificate at the border, requiring instead a passport "or other accepted secure document" by Jan. 1, 2008.

People arriving in the U.S. from Canada by plane or boat would need the document by Jan. 1, 2007, while Canadians entering the U.S. from the Caribbean and Bermuda are slated to require a passport at the end of this year.

Mexicans visiting the U.S. and American citizens returning home would also need to produce a secure document. But Canadian officials haven't been urging people to rush out and get passports, saying that Canada-U.S. negotiations will determine in a few months what kind of identification will be needed.

American officials have said that the NEXUS and Free and Secure Trade (FAST) cards already used by some frequent travellers will be acceptable, and other types of identification are being considered.

Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan said in Ottawa that Bush's comments show he supports Canada-U.S. negotiations on "accepted forms of ID." "While we want to keep our borders secure and our respective counties secure, we also want to ensure that we're facilitating trade and the movement of people between the two counties," she said.

Last week, McLellan said there will be discussions on the issue with Homeland Secretary Michael Chertoff. "He clearly will be working with us to work out what documents other than the Canadian passport will be sufficient." The card issued to permanent residents of Canada would likley meet U.S. requirements, she said, and an Alberta driver's licence might also be acceptable, given the document's high security standards.

Only 20 per cent of Americans, about 60 million, have passports, compared with 40 per cent of Canadians. And while many air travellers routinely carry passports now, it's less common at border points where Canadians often cross over to shop or visit friends on the spur of the moment. 

Some 45,000 people travel from Fort Erie, Ont., to Buffalo on a daily basis, while 40,000 leave Windsor, Ont., for Detroit at Canada's two busiest border crossings. Nearly 16 million Canadians entered the United States last year, along with $1.2 billion worth of goods crossing the border daily.

Bush's comments came after an editor asked if the president supported requiring tourists to produce passports, especially given his pledge at last month's summit with Canada and Mexico to balance security with the free flow of trade and people. The tighter measures, Rice said last week, are intended to screen out "people who want to come in to hurt us."
They're part of provisions outlined in the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act adopted last year.

© The Canadian Press 2005