Canada Customs A Floppola

Poor Mark Boscariol! Expecting some boffo reviews of his new Windsor International Film Festival, instead he got bad news. On the night of his Gala, because of a labour dispute at the border, traffic entering Canada was tied up for miles at the border and it took as long as an hour or more to clear Customs. How many Americans chose not to come over and buy tickets and how many who bought them will now demand a refund.

I saw coverage of the dispute on WDIV, WWJ and the Free Press and across Michigan. Here's what WWJ said:

• "A labor dispute in Canada caused major traffic problems in Detroit and Port Huron Thursday.
  
  Canadian customs officers refused to work, saying their jobs aren't safe. They want guns to protect themselves and to prevent potentially dangerous people from getting into Canada. Marie-Claire Coupal of the Customs and Excise Union says they can't defend themselves against people who may be armed and dangerous, or stop them from entering Canada. Coupal says officers typically let them through, then call Windsor Police.
  
  Danny Yen of the Canada Border Services Agency says they commissioned an independent study a few years ago which showed that officers do not need to be armed.
  
  But because the officers exercised their legal rights to refuse work, their managers had to run the booths at the Ambassador Bridge, the Blue Water Bridge, and the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel. Yen says that left the border crossings understaffed, and that caused delays which spilled onto major roads and freeways in Detroit and Port Huron."
  
  

I sympathize with the Customs Officers..it IS a dangerous job at the border. However, as the OTA pointed out:

• "Customs inspectors at the Peace Bridge have walked off the job five times since May citing personal security concerns and exercising their right to refuse work under the Canada Labour Code. Apparently, some of the inspectors want to be armed like their US counterparts. Each time the union workers have walked off the job, Human Resource and Skills Development Canada ruled that there was no threat to personal safety and forced the customs inspectors back to work."
  
  

Obviously there is an unresolved dispute between the workers and management but who suffers, the public. The trucking industry claims losses of a million dollars an hour. Our tourist trade and businesses suffer as the perception will again arise in the minds of Americans that it is foolhardy to cross the border into Canada. Does anyone think that Detroiters are going to put up with their Interstates being tied up and its Downtown jammed with cars and trucks waiting to be cleared into Canada.

I have no idea who is right or wrong in the dispute but one of the parties is mistaken. That party's actions are jeopardizing the economic health of this country. It must be stopped now.

I disagree with the OTA's solution: "trucking companies to charge their customers for delays their trucks are experiencing getting back into Canada." Rather OTA, given the strong industry group that it is, should, on behalf of its members, sue both the Union and the Government for the losses incurred. If the bargaining process cannot resolve the dispute, then let the courts do it.

And if OTA will not, Mark should consider doing so!