From the St. Catharines Standard:
Passports won’t be necessary for Americans and Canadians entering the United States by land until mid-2009 - a year later than planned - if a budget bill passed Thursday by Congress is approved by U.S. President George W. Bush.
A provision of a budget bill passed Thursday pushes back by a year the plan by the Department of Homeland Security to require passports from border-crossers from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean as a way of strengthening national security.
Related posts
- Bradley ‘cautiously optimistic’ about passport requirement...
- U.S. wavers on passport plan...
- Washington eases off contentious passport plan for Canada-U.S. crossings...
- Best bet: Get a passport...
- Niagara scores passport victory...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
:)…I don’t have a lot of faith in W. though
Just a follow up, I checked around at Cnn.com and msnbc.com about this story. Bush is expected to reject this proposal, as his administration wants the law implemented sometime this coming summer. I had a feeling once I read this article and it was a dem. saying he expects it to be signed, that it might not be the case.
you can never count on bush for any thing, but if this carries out, thank god!
Ive read alot on it since this morning, and it 99.9% will not be held back until 09. Its going to go into effect in summer of 08. What a nightmare this will be for business.
It it is part of that huge spending bill, then it will pass. Bush has already said he would sign that one.
I didnt see anything about that I admit. Just in the articles I came across they all said the Bush admin. says they will not approve it.
damn bush
All politics aside, I firmly believe the U.S. economy will really pick up after W. is out of office. There will be a sense of happiness/relief no matter who wins rep. or dem. that will help out big time.
i agree 100%
If this gets pushed back, perhaps it will never happen since Bush will be out of office in the next 2 years.
I just wanted to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas, and a happy, safe, and healthy 2008. This site is very enjoyable, and I wouldn’t know what to do w/out it! I always say it as much as possible, Thank You Graham for making this site the best around.
God Bless You All, and Happy Holidays.
Bush did sign the bill on Wednesday, so the requirement for passports has been delayed till June 1, 2009. Probably good news, but another 18 months of confusion.
Drafty can you link to that?
N/M drafty, I saw the article in the Review, and some other Canadian newspapers. Its really weird how no Maerican news sites mention it has part of the 555 budget signing. Why the heck is that? This is great news BTW.
It just shows that for the vast, vast majority of Americans (and therefore the media), the question of needing a passport to re-enter the U.S. is not something that will ever concern them.
yay! now i don’t need one for 2 years, unless of course we go on a plane somewhere…
I don’t like the idea of requiring passports to cross land borders because that will cause a ripple effect of people avoiding Canada and the falls and choosing domestic destinations due to the new expense and hassle of passports. It will cause a great divide like E/W Germany was in that it will put an invisible wall between the US and Canada. Everyone without proper documents will be unable to visit the other country. It’s a lot easier using driver’s licenses/non-driver’s photo ID’s and birth cert. for proof of residency and citizenship since everyone has them. We visited Ontario in July 06 and liked it. We went to Kingston, Toronto, and Niagara Falls. Although they gave us a hassle at the 1000 Islands border coming into Canada, it was almost midnight, the officer at the booth made us go into the building for further questioning. We enjoyed the 1000 Islands boat at Kingston, Centreville amusement park at Toronto Island, the Haunted ride at Centreville and the train around the park, and the haunted attractions at the falls. US entry was a lot easier, the officer just said “Citizenships?” looked at some of our ID just dl’s/ID cards and social security cards and let us go. I think they should have a waiver system for people arriving at a border without a passport, such as at Niagara Falls, to allow people to visit the Falls for three days and return to the US. The Canada side is much nicer, better hotels, and more to see and do, more amusements. But, very expensive, and Ontario has 2 taxes, PST and GST, 8% and 7% for a combined total of 15%. Our PA sales tax is 6%. Good thing you can get the tax back in rebates, but I thought Canada changed that, you can’t claim one of the taxes anymore. Also it’s funny seeing 100 km/h speed limit signs on the 401, makes it feel like the Autobahn, when in the US the highest speed limit is 65 MPH. But, it’s about equal.
The Canadian Government has stopped the GST program, so you can’t get that back anymore.
About 18 months ago our GST went from 7% to 6% and as of January 1 it is going down to 5%, so our combined tax is now 13%. It’s still high, but slowly coming down.
It’s a little strange that it has become easier to cross borders in Europe and more difficult to cross borders in North America!
Where did you here about the GST decrease to 5%, Graham?
This was part of the Conservative’s mini-budget this Fall. Go to Google News and search for GST. There are lots of stories about it.
Anyone ever hear of the rumored North American union? I came across an article today about it, fascinating stuff.
no. i haven’t, niagara.
thanks graham.
Chris, and everyone else….I highly suggest searching google for it. Its either a crazy conspiracy rumor, or the biggest news story of our lifetime. I havent decided my opinion either way yet…but leaning toward conspiracy rumor.