Before Sept. 11, 2001, Canada and the United States liked to brag that the line on the map between them denoted the longest undefended border in the world. Since exporters could cross that border in the blink of an eye and the Canadian dollar’s value was low, Canada was able to woo foreign investors by promising them a combination of relatively cheap production costs and unrestricted access to lucrative U.S. markets.
That was then: when the Canadian dollar was worth about two-thirds of the U.S. dollar, and it only took a few minutes to cross the border. These days, with our dollar worth more than its American cousin, Ontario’s exports to the U.S. are taking a big hit, and the border lineups aren’t helping one bit. Read More…
I have family that live in the states and if Joint Action Plan becomes a relaity then i will have to strongly reconsider my weekly visits.
@gary you raise a good point about online transactions. Its true that online shopping has grown dramatically and will continue to grow and for many Canadians looking for the next deal it just makes logical sense to shop online from US outlets and save yourself a hassle/pat-down at the border.
I just end up ordering online and so long lines at the border are never an issue.
For me i dont see a problem with the more strict security precautions.
With a conservative government and Obama being a center-right president it is obvious that we will be seeing even longer wait times at the border and larger deficits.
Ok wait. Wouldn’t this end up costing tax payers huge amounts of $$ each year just to pump up border control for the sake of appearing nice to the US. Seems stupid to me.
Seems contradictory. So Canadians want to rush over to the US for cheaper deals but the US wants to have tighter borders to prevent attacks entering from Canada and into their country.
You cant have both.
It’s clear that the US has always wanted much more tougher border control from our country because it is a perfect entry point for Muslim extremists who want to target America.
I personally feel with our dollar being so strong Harper has good leverage to see about renegotiating nafta in exchange for border enhancements.
I’m totally confused. If Harper and Obama have their way security at the border will be tougher, making it harder for trading.
The CAD is killing the USD and for my business it has taken a hit and now we dont get as many US customers as we use to.