Border Patrol

I do patrol the media looking for interesting stories that may help us out on border issues. There were several nuggets today.

Expect more walk-outs at the border crossings in light of the story about the two murder suspects who “were pursued by American police in a high-speed chase along Interstate 5 in Washington state before the men ran the U.S. border crossing in an attempt to get into Canada…. An unspecified number of Canadian border agents, who are unarmed, left their posts during the incident because they were concerned about their safety.”

Jeff Watson learned his lesson and is, moreover, watching his language. I heard that before the election Jeff was told to keep quiet about his DRTP support and follow the “respect the Bi-national” party line. So in today’s paper we read Watson saying. "Our commitment is to the binational (Detroit River International Crossing) process," Watson said. "They will soon be reaching a decision on a crossing.”

But Jeff is obviously a lot smarter than people give him credit. I loved the last line of what he said “You can literally see the light at the end of the bridge.” For that play of words alone, he deserves a cabinet position.

However, if Jeff wants to stay ahead of the pack, and assuming he does have a border role, he should watch what is happening on the other side. Both municipally and in Lansing, there is a movement to pull the plug on DRIC. DRIC’s actions have infuriated communities and its costs are huge. Given that it is an election year in the US, Watson should be part of the movement on this side to stay in tandem with the Americans and should start the process to drop DRIC as well.

Moreover, the best thing that Watson could do is to demand that the BIF funding or the Conservative’s promise of a $2-billion Highways and Border Infrastructure Fund be used immediately to build the road to the Ambassador Bridge both to keep traffic moving and off of Huron Church Road and for the creation of jobs in this region. Now that is good politics!

Alan McKinnon of the Ojibway environmental group should be pleased this morning as well and the Mayor and Council may want to re-think their silly opposition to Schwartz’s Route #4 (ie the DRIC road which was the WALTS/City/Bridgeco road to the border). “Watson said he will fight any attempt to create a border truck route through Ojibway Park lands. "It would be something tragic for a precious jewel in our midst."

And as for the realtionship between Eddie and Watson…I wish I could attend the first meeting if Jeff is given a border role. How about if we all write to Stephen Harper demanding that he get that job.

I see that the Americans have announced that a travel card would be an alternative to the passport idea that could hurt business in Canada. Will that be a better idea since people would have to apply for it and it still means that spur of the moment trips would not happen.

It's happened before in the US. Actions taken without thinking about the consequences to business and tourism on both sides of the border. As was said "its implications were not fully understood or debated."

I found this back in 1998 dealing with Section 110 of the ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION REFORM AND IMMIGRANT RESPONSIBILITY ACT OF 1996. Section 110 provided that, by September 30, 1998, the Attorney General must develop an automated entry-exit control system that will enable the Attorney General to track the arrival and departure of `every alien' entering and leaving the United States.

Just one excerpt:

On October 14, 1997, the chairman of the Subcommittee on Immigration, Senator Spencer Abraham, convened a field hearing in Detroit, MI, at which testimony was heard concerning the traffic congestion and delays that would result from the implementation of section 110 as written. ...

Witnesses testifying at the hearing universally voiced concerns that implementing section 110 at the land borders could cause severe traffic delays that would effectively close the land borders. Testimony highlighted that Michigan would particularly be affected because of the relatively large number of high-volume border crossings located in the State. Mayor Archer explained that, of all crossings on the Northern border handling U.S.-bound vehicle traffic from Canada, Detroit's Ambassador Bridge is the busiest U.S.-Canadian crossing, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel is the second busiest, and Port Huron's Blue Water Bridge is the fifth.

Implementation of section 110 at the land borders would, he explained, turn `downtown Detroit [into] a virtual parking lot.' Dan Stamper, president of the Detroit International Bridge Co., testified that the Ambassador Bridge handles approximately 30,000 vehicle crossings per day. Mr. Stamper calculated that `assum[ing] the most efficient and remarkable entry and exit procedures in the world [that] will take only 30 seconds' per vehicle, and making the equally optimistic assumption that only half of the vehicles have to go through the procedures, that would amount to an extra `3,750 minutes of additional processing time each day.' As he pointed out, `there are only 1,440 minutes in a day.' Mr. Stamper concluded that, if section 110 is put into place at the land borders, `we are talking about closing the border...'

It looks like the border may be hopping for Super Bowl week if the Star is correct. "Steelers fans are coming to Windsor by the bus loads -- and they mean to party in Sin City." I expect both the bridge and Tunnel are going to be busy with the Tunnel having the most visible role (though not necessarily the most traffic) since it is City-owned. The Tunnel Bus should do a landslide business too.

I trust that Mr. NFL or whoever in Windsor is organizing matters on Super Bowl day will ensure that traffic goes smoothly through the crossings. Can you imagine the negative publicity if a busload or two of Super Bowl fans miss the first quarter of the game because of Customs hold-ups or traffic congestion.

And of course, what better time for Canadian Customs workers to go on strike for "safety concerns."