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Passport could become major issue, Doer says
KATHERINE HARDING AND KAREN HOWLETT
Globe and Mail Update
Gimli, Man. Despite Prime Minister Stephen Harper's optimism that the U.S. government could delay a plan to require identification cards at the border, that country's ambassador to Canada is warning the public to be ready for anything.
"It's a work in progress," U.S. Ambassador David Wilkins told reporters Wednesday as he headed into a international summit on North American relations being held at this tiny fishing and tourist village located 90 kilometres north of Winnipeg.
"We know the law is in place we need to be preparing for that," he said. "But at the same time, we know that Congress may delay implementation and we still need to wait and see what the proposals will be."
The U.S. Senate recently passed an amendment to an immigration bill that would delay by 17 months, to June 1, 2009, the requirement that people crossing the U.S. border from Canada, the Caribbean and Mexico hold passports or specially designed border-crossing cards. That bill still must be reconciled with a House of Representatives immigration bill that is silent on the issue.
Mr. Harper told The Globe and Mail Tuesday that he thinks the requirement to have a passport or other secure identification document to cross the border will be delayed because of recent American concerns about how to implement the plan.
Mr. Wilkins said he wouldn't "second-guess" the Prime Minister's comments, but added that "the law is in place.
"Congress is the only body that can delay the implementation or amend the law," he added.
Several of the Premiers who have gathered here for today's meeting warned that the issue has the potential to become a major dispute between the two countries.
"I think it will be more of an irritant, because more people will be directly impacted," Manitoba Premier Gary Doer said. He is concerned it could strain U.S.-Canadian relations more than softwood lumber or the mad cow crisis.
Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and New Brunswick Premier Bernard Lord both said Wednesday that they would like to see the United States accept a driver's license with enhanced security features as an alternative to a passport.
Mr. Lord warned that "when you put an obstacle like the passport between Canada and the United States, and you start thickening the border between Canada and the United States, you're hurting our prosperity."
Mr. McGuinty said that there is much more at stake than lost jobs and tourism dollars in both countries if the passport proposal becomes law.
It's going to compromise Canada's ability to maintain a friendship with its closest neighbour that is based not just on "eight-second sound bites" between the two countries' leaders but on "me going across the border with my family," Mr. McGuinty argued.
