By Arthur Weinreb
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Three Canadian premiers; Ontario's Dalton McGuinty, Gary Doer of Manitoba and Premier Shawn Graham of New Brunswick are currently in Washington to push for the idea of Canadians being allowed to use a more secure driver's licence to enter the United States instead of a passport. This new proposed licence will contain citizenship information as well as more secure identifying features.
Passports have been mandatory for people entering the U.S. by air or sea since last month. The requirement that visitors to the U.S. or Americans seeking to re-enter their country be in possession of a passport at land crossings is due to be implemented in January 2008. The premiers are currently lobbying for the Department of Homeland Security to accept a more secure form of driver's licence as sufficient identification in lieu of a passport.
The real crunch for Canada will come next year, if and when the passport requirement is implemented. The necessity of a passport will discourage many Americans, especially those who live close to the border from casually entering and spending money in Canada. The effect of this policy could devastate local economies on border towns in both countries that rely heavily on consumers from the neighbouring state. Anything that will facilitate travel across the international border will be a benefit.
McGuinty even acknowledges that a more secure form of driver's licence will have some benefits within Ontario. The premier was quoted as saying, ‚You've got to stay ahead of the bad guys all the time.‚ So true; if you get squeamish at the thought of locking the bad guys up, the least you can do is stay ahead of them. It is a sad commentary about Canadian society and our hug-a-thug liberal governments that security measures are only thought of because of possible economic ramifications and not as part of a law and order strategy.
No doubt if the idea of a more secure driver's licence begins to move beyond the talking and lobbying stages, there will be criticism from the usual sources. Some will balk at the notion that citizenship information will be contained in a driver's licence. Currently, residency in a province is enough for a person who otherwise qualifies to be issued a licence to drive a motor vehicle. The issue of whether or not someone who is in this country for other than a temporary status but is not a citizen or permanent resident can be issued a licence to drive will have to be decided.
If immigration and citizenship status is going to be embedded in these new licences it will be hard to believe that police will not be able to access this information during a routine traffic stop. Even the perception that this might happen will lead to more people driving without a licence and a greater need to acquire a fraudulent albeit more secure licence to drive. As well, there will be people up in arms about privacy and about treating illegals as second class citizens, as little sense as that may make.
As well as trying to push for secure driver's licences to be acceptable to the Americans as a substitute for a passport, the federal and provincial governments are also trying to bring exemptions out of the Americans for the requirement of holding a passport. Recently the Department of Homeland Security has agreed to exempt those 15 years of age or younger from the necessity of possessing a valid passport to cross the border. Now, the Canadian governments are asking for an exemption for seniors. In the weeks and months ahead it will be interesting to see if we go down the list of all those that lefties consider to be victims of a harsh and uncaring society in an attempt to broaden the exemptions.
The lobbying effort that is being conducted by the federal government and the provinces has been subject to criticism. Some feel that if the United States refuses to back down on the passport requirement, people are now being discouraged from obtaining one in the hopes that they will be able to use a driver's licence or be otherwise exempt from having to get a valid passport. The criticism that governments should spend more time encouraging people to obtain passports instead of hoping that a proposed document will be accepted makes a lot of sense.
It will be interesting to see if the notion of having more secure driver's licences will still be floated if the U.S. refuses to do away with the requirement of a passport to enter that country. Probably not; our security is only an afterthought.
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