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Will Obama risk bordertown economies for Janet's border fees

Tam

Well-known member
CTVNews.ca Staff
Published Monday, April 22, 2013 11:21AM EDT
Last Updated Monday, April 22, 2013 9:37PM EDT


A proposal to charge travellers a fee for entering the U.S. by land has sparked anger in both countries, with opponents citing fears it will hinder border crossings and hurt the economy.

The proposal to study the new fee is included in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s 2014 budget.

In its proposal, the department urges a study examining the effect of collecting a crossing fee for both pedestrians and passenger vehicles along the Canadian and Mexican borders. Proponents say the fee is being considered as a way to cover increasing security costs.


U.S. Ambassador to Canada David Jacobson explained the study to reporters on Monday.

“There’s a proposal for some money for a study. We’ll wait to see what happens,” he said.

But opponents of the proposed fee already lashed out against it on Monday, saying it will complicate trade between the U.S. and Canada. It is estimated that nearly $1.6 billion in trade takes place every day along the U.S.-Canada border.

The Department of Foreign Affairs said it would "vigorously lobby” against the proposal.

The Canadian Chamber of Commerce called the fee a "serious mistake” and promised to fight it.

Chamber President Perrin Beatty told CTV News Channel the proposed fee unfairly punishes travellers.

“The decision they’ve made is to study sticking it to the beleaguered traveller one more time,” Beatty said.

He said that if the fee is being used to cover security costs, it should be paid from general tax revenue and not charged to travellers.

“What you have is a disconnect here. They’ve gone, set up their plan for what sort of spending they want to do, and now they’re saying ‘Where are we going to find money to pay for it?’”

Beatty also said the fee will have negative consequences for border towns -- many who benefit on revenues from cross-border tourism.

“Anything that makes the border more of a hassle to cross, more costly to cross, it’s going to discourage people from coming,” he said.

Beatty said the chamber has already notified U.S. politicians, the U.S. Chamber of Congress and the Canadian Embassy in Washington, D.C. to protest the proposed fee.

He said the fee goes directly against the agendas of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama, who have both made the free flow of goods across the border a priority.

“Our hope is that common sense will prevail,” he said.

Meanwhile, Canadian residents had mixed views on the proposed fee.

Michael MacKenzie, executive director of the Canadian Snowbird Association, said Monday that the U.S. is trying to ease its "desperate financial situation" on the backs of travellers. He said the U.S. government should focus on ways to reduce obstacles at the border rather than charge travellers.

Manitoba-based truck driver Jack Penner crosses often into the U.S. via the Emerson-Pembina border crossing in Manitoba. He told CTV Winnipeg that he doesn’t agree with the idea of a crossing fee.

“I don’t think I’d be very much in favour of that,” he said.

But fellow truck driver Frank Elias said he wouldn’t mind.

“Look at the cheap gas we’re getting there, (and) cheap cigarettes and cheap beer,” he said.

While travellers entering the U.S. by air already pay a fee -- included in the price of a plane ticket -- those entering the U.S. at land crossings do not pay. Drivers do, however, face tolls, as they cross bridges spanning the border.

The study would examine the feasibility of collecting the proposed fee from existing operators on the land border. The proposal is in its early stages, and details on how much the fee would be and how it would be collected are not clear.

Janet Napolitano, head of the Department of Homeland Security, said that many of the fees -- which help to process the estimated 350 million travellers who cross the U.S. border each year -- have not been adjusted in more than a decade.

"As the complexity of our operations continues to expand, the gap between fee collections and the operations they support is growing, and the number of workforce-hours fees support decreases each year," she said.

Congressman Brian Higgins from Buffalo wrote to Napolitano to lobby against the fee, according to the Buffalo News.

"At a time when we are looking to increase economic activity at our northern border, we should not be authoring proposals that would do the reverse," Higgins said.

With files from CTV Winnipeg and The Canadian Press


Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/canada/anger-over-proposed-fee-for-canadians-entering-u-s-1.1248504#ixzz2SB4NzCRh

Air Head Janet is going to risk the economic benefits from 350 million travelers so she can charge them a fee to enter the US to cover her budget woos. Might I suggest she cut spending by cutting down on the border patrol agents that are bumping into each other at the Northern border. I doubt there is a need for twenty five border patrol to cover the border between Sheridan County Montana and Sask, when there is only two covering the Sask side .

Any little border town that makes sales to Canadian citizens on a day trip to the US had better be thinking about what the effects of Janet's little fee is going to do to their bottom line. Those that paid the fee to get their passports to enter the US are just going to see this as yet another reason to not enter the US. :roll:
 

Mike

Well-known member
Would you be charged a fee for coming or going?

Or maybe coming AND going?

Is the "Processing" that in depth? Does it take just a minute or two?
 

Tam

Well-known member
Mike said:
Would you be charged a fee for coming or going?

Or maybe coming AND going?

Is the "Processing" that in depth? Does it take just a minute or two?

You would pay every time you entered the US if a family of four enters it would be $22 fee. Canada is not looking at the fee Janet Air Head Napolitano is. All it takes now is time long enough to scan your passport and type in your license plate number. If they have a backlog of vehicles it takes about a minute but if everyone entering has to get out go in and pay the fee and get a receipt it will be A LOT LONGER and when you are looking at the big ports just what will the back log be. :roll:

If I spend say on average $300 per visit is that worth risking for a $5.50 fee to enter the US? There were a lot that said they would not get their passports and never did, so of those that did how many are going to say forget it if they don't want our money to the point they are going to charge us a FEE we will not be going there ANYMORE. This is just the Obama Administrations way to get non citizens to pay for THEIR SPENDING HABITS. If Janet needs money to balance her budget may be she should tell the Obama's to take a few less family vacations. :mad:
 

hypocritexposer

Well-known member
Mike said:
Is the "Processing" that in depth? Does it take just a minute or two?

the illegal mexicans just swipe their credit cards as they run across the border. :lol:

takes seconds.

Maybe they could also charge legal gun owners a "user fee", to cover the expense of security for illegal gun owners.

collectivism at it's finest. :roll:
 
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