The New Reality

As of today, travellers flying between the United States and Canada must possess valid passports. In a year, passports will also be required when entering the United States by land. As you may well imagine, the program -- the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative -- is not going over well with many Canadians.

Naturally, tourism-related organizations such as hotels, resorts, and ski lodges are a bit concerned, since the passport requirements are likely to reduce their business. Most Americans, it turns out, do not have passports. The tougher documentation requirements, combined with a relatively high Canadian dollar, means the Canadian tourism industry is going to have to re-invent the way it markets Canada to the American public.

On an individual level, news reports interviewed frustrated people who were lining up at -- or being turned away from -- passport offices. Of course, the new requirements were announced last year, so they had plenty of time to get their papers in order, but they seem upset nonetheless.

Canadian government officials have expressed concerns that the WHTI will have a negative impact on cross-border trade, a reasonable concern when one recognizes that 75% of Canada's international trade is with the United States. They appear to be lobbying for an extension on the requirement for land travel, but the US government is standing firm. American officials, you see, consider the Initiative as a critical step in increasing the security of their borders.

I guess they forget that terrorists -- and other criminals for that matter -- have a long history of travelling on forged documents.