How Good Is This Cross-Border Agreement For Us?

A Brief by Doug Draper

This December 7, Canadian Prime Minister  Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama signed a cross-border agreement – loosely being called the ‘Canada-U.S. border plan – that may be as significant as any binational agreement the two countries have signed going back to the Boundary Waters Treaty of 1909.

Canadian PM Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama embrace over new cross-border agreement. But is it good for us?

Niagara At Large has posted a few media releases and statements from government and business groups on both sides of the border since this agreement was signed between the two leaders in the White House this December 7. We have done so because in our greater Niagara region, including residents in Niagara, Ontario and Erie and Niagara counties, New York, we share some of the busiest border crossings in all of North America, and residents and businesses here will be significantly impacted by this It appears many members of the business community on both sides of the Niagara River have rushed to the conclusion that this agreement, to the extent it will make it easier to move goods back and forth, believe this agreement is a positive step for our economies and for the growth of jobs in a region that has been suffering economically with the out-sourcing of good-paying manufacturing jobs overseas.  Perhaps they are right.

There are others, including the Ottawa-based citizens group Council of Canadians, that are expressing concerns about what this agreement may mean for the loss of individual privacy and national sovereignty. In a statement published on the Council of Canadian’s website this December 7, the group’s director Maude Barlow said the border plan will “create new checks on travel into and out of Canada, and increase the amount of personal information that is shared with U.S. security agenices. It will announce new joint policing initiatives that could make it normal to have U.S. agents operating in Canada.”

“What does Canada get out of all this,” asks Barlow. “Canada is asked to adopt wholesale the U.S. vision and tactics of the ongoing global war on terrorism, with its increasing use of data collection and surveillance in the North American homeland. In returne, the U.S. agrees to maybe, just maybe let trucks (loaded with Canadian goods) across the border a few seconds faster.”

What do you think? Please take a few minutes out from reality TV shows and hockey to share your views on what may be one of the most significant agreements signed between Canada and the U.S.  in a century. We invite people on both sides of the border to wade in on this subject.