The following article is excerpted from the 6 June 2006 edition of the “Toronto Star”.

The government is confident the arrests of terrorist suspects will not impair the efforts to get the United States to postpone the application of its law requiring a passport or equivalent identification card to cross the Canada-U.S. border….

A foretaste of tougher border controls came yesterday when U.S. authorities tightened traffic checks from Canada following the arrests of 17 terror suspects, Associated Press reports.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection official Kristi Clemens said some traffic headed into the United States would experience tougher procedures at the 89 ports of entry along the border.

She also said, without elaborating, that her agency has added some "enforcement capabilities" following the arrests….

Bill Graham, interim leader of the Liberal party, told the Star that the arrests would reaffirm already existing opinions in the U.S. — that those who are convinced that Canada represents a security problem will be confirmed in this view….

Canadian officials in Washington are trying to use the arrests to show how vigilant Canada has been and to argue for delay in the implementation of the passport requirement.

Other opposition MPs are concerned the arrests will make this job of persuasion harder….