Peace Bridge Dispute Highlights the Need for Pushing Ahead on BTB

May 15, 2013

Keith Edmund White

Canada Institute, Woodrow Wilson Center

The Buffalo News reports that the Peace Bridge pre-inspection pilot program has been threatened by a growing discord between certain New York state officials and bridge’s Canadian board members.

The Peace Bridge pre-inspection pilot, a key aspect of the Beyond the Border Action Plan, promises to promote commercial trade and reduce pollution at the second-busiest border crossing between Canada and the United States.

While the controversy may be receding, these recent events show the value of and persistence needed to build on the significant economic and border security gains made by Canada and the United States through BTB.

A fully implemented pre-inspection program at the Peace Bridge promises to ease congestion at a critical crossborder site, a crossing that generates $40 billion in trade each year.  Learn more about the pilot program here and by watching this July 2012 floor speech by Congressman Brian Higgins (D-NY).

From the National Post:

The Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority — commonly known as the Peace Bridge Authority — and the key international link it has administered since 1923 have been hailed as symbols of the enduring friendship between the U.S. and Canada after the War of 1812, the key battles of which were fought near the present site of the Niagara River bridge that connects Fort Erie, Ont., and Buffalo, N.Y.

But that peaceful coexistence has been strained within the PBA boardroom in recent months, with Canada’s five, federally-appointed members and the five U.S. representatives locked in a deepening conflict over a planned, multimillion-dollar upgrade to roads and facilities on American side of the bridge.

And from The Buffalo News:

A group of state lawmakers Tuesday offered an olive branch to Canadian Peace Bridge officials, urging them to keep on track a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity’’ to begin a historic pilot project that allows U.S. customs agents onto Canadian soil to inspect American-bound cargo trucks.

The letter, signed by five area Democratic members of the Assembly and one Republican state senator, was sent to Peace Bridge Authority Chairman Anthony Annunziata, who has been involved in a war of words with Cuomo administration officials in recent weeks over everything from personnel matters to construction plans on the Buffalo side.

The pre-inspection program was approved by Washington and Ottawa as a pilot initiative to more quickly move traffic and reduce pollution levels in just two spots in North America: the Peace Bridge and a span between the State of Washington and British Columbia.

[NY Assemblyman Michael Kearns (D-Buffalo)] said the pre-inspection program will reduce idling of trucks on the Buffalo side, helping to reduce health problems, such as asthma, in nearby neighborhoods.

Kearns’ comment comes a couple weeks after three area state legislators – Assembly Democrat Sean Ryan and Republican Sens. Mark Grisanti and George Maziarz – floated a plan to dissolve the Peace Bridge Authority [thereby shifting bridge management to the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority, a New York public transportation authority].


CBSA & DHS Release Joint Report on Entry/Exit Initiative: Phase I “Results Significantly Exceeded Expectations”

May 14, 2013

4/15/13 Update: CBSA’s press release is available here, and the joint report is available here.

Yahoo!Finance highlights the significant progress made on Canada and the United States’ Entry/Exit Initiative.

The Entry/Exit Initiative, part of the Beyond the Border Action Plan, is a joint initiative “to facilitate exchanges of entry information such that an entry into one country is considered an exit from the other.”

The end-goal?  According to a joint report released today by Canada Border Services Agency and the Department of Homeland Security:

When fully implemented, the Entry/Exit Information System will support the integrity of U.S. and Canadian immigration programs by allowing for improved access management to either country; increasing the effectiveness of border management; and enabling targeted policy development and implementation. Both countries have a need to know when third country nationals and permanent residents enter and depart their country in order to be able to determine whether domestic immigration laws are being followed. Exchanging entry data between Canada and the United States allows both countries to obtain the departure data needed to achieve this objective without requiring expensive new infrastructure and procedures that would slow down travel, trade, and commerce between the two countries.

The report’s findings?  Pretty solid.

  • “The results significantly exceeded expectations in terms of the ability of both countries to reconcile (referred to as match in the U.S.) entry and exit records.”
  • “Based on the results of Phase I, both Canada and the United States are optimistic about the success of the future phases of the Entry/Exit Information System.”

From Yahoo!Finance:

Today, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) released a joint report on the findings of Phase I of the Entry/Exit Initiative. The report demonstrates progress in establishing a coordinated Entry/Exit information system that enhances border security. This report also demonstrates that Canada and the United States (U.S.) are continuing to deliver on key commitments under the Beyond the Border Action Plan.

As part of Phase I, the CBSA and DHS exchanged routine biographic entry information – collected between September 30, 2012, and January 15, 2013 – of third-country nationals (those who are neither citizens of Canada nor of the U.S.), permanent residents of Canada and lawful permanent residents of the United States at four land ports of entry in British Columbia/Washington State and in Ontario/New York. Phase I tested the concept of an Entry/Exit system for both countries through the exchange of information, such that a record of entry into one country becomes a record of exit from the other.

Read the full press release and report here.


Public Safety Minister & Transport Minister Highlight BTB to Canadian/American Border Trade Alliance

May 8, 2013

Public Safety Canada highlights Canada’s continuing commitment to the Beyond the Border Initiative:

The Honourable Vic Toews, Minister of Public Safety, and the Honourable Steven Fletcher, Minister of State (Transport), spoke today at the Canadian/American Border Trade Alliance Ottawa Conference on the benefits of and the progress made to date under the Beyond the Border Action Plan.

“Our government continues to make the implementation of the Beyond the Border Action Plan a key priority, and we have made significant progress to date,” said Minister Toews. “We are making the border more efficient by strengthening our security and facilitating trade. This will benefit both travellers and businesses.”

Minister Fletcher also addressed the progress made on the Detroit River International Crossing project, which will ensure that there is sufficient capacity to handle the projected increase in traffic at Canada’s busiest commercial border crossing.

Canada and the United States enjoy the largest trade relationship in the world. TheBeyond the Border Action Plan will further increase our security, economic competitiveness and prosperity through numerous measures, including reducing border wait times and improving infrastructure at key crossings to speed up legitimate trade and travel.

The Canadian/American Border Trade Alliance is a bi-national organization comprised of public and private organizations engaged in Canada–U.S. trade, transportation and tourism. Approximately 50 participants from various Canadian and American private- and public-sector organizations were in attendance.

Both officials made these remarks at The Canadian/American Border Trade Alliance’s 2013 annual conference.


RCC’s Benefits to the Plumbing & Heating Industry

April 30, 2013

Daily Commercial News reports on two Canadian heat and plumbing associations support for greater regulatory alignment between the United States and Canada.  Why the support?  Completing such work, the task of the Regulatory Cooperation Council (RCC), will lowers costs–benefiting costumers on both sides of the border.

From Patricia Williams’ report:  

The CIPH [Canadian Institute of Plumbing & Heating] and the MCAC [Mechanical Contractors Association of Canada] believe the government can play a substantial role in improving the system to combat counterfeiting as it relates to the plumbing, heating and mechanical industries.

In terms of harmonizing standards and certification requirements, the mechanical contractors’ association and the institute support efforts being undertaken by the secretariat of the Canada-U.S. Regulatory Cooperation Council, The two-year-old council is looking at various options in this sphere.

The CIPH and MCAC are in favour of development of North American consensus standards. The total cost of product testing and certification compliance in the North American plumbing and heating industry is estimated at between $3.2 billion and $4.5 billion per year.

So what is the cost of of having dual compliance regimes?  $120-150 Million.  (Note:  Learn more about Canadian perspectives on increased Canada-U.S. regulatory alignment here.)

From CIPH:

The total cost of product testing and certification compliance for the North American plumbing and heating industry is between $3.2 and $4.5 Billion per year. It is estimated that only about 10% of referenced standards are currently bi‐laterally harmonized which results in many instances of duplicate testing and certification to meet the different federal and provincial standards that govern many of these products. The additional cost to Canadian consumers attributed to duplicate certification and testing is between $120 to $150 Million per year.


Beyond the Border (BTB) and Terror: Foiled Al Qaeda Terror Plot Highlights the Success and Continuing Need to Build on BTB

April 30, 2013

Operation Smooth, a Canada-U.S. joint law enforcement operation resulting in the arrest of two individuals planning to launch a terror attack via rail somewhere between Toronto and New York, shows just how critical binational cooperation will be to protecting the Canada-U.S. border from 21st century threats.

This Al Qaeda-planned attack, while not eminent, was the first experienced by Canada.

From CBS New York:

Police in Canada have foiled a chilling terror plot against a passenger train.

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police said Monday that Chiheb Esseghaier, 30, and Raed Jaser, 35, were conspiring to carry out an Al Qaeda-supported attack, but posed no imminent threat, 1010 WINS’ Sonia Rincon reported.

“This is the first known Al Qaeda-planned attack that we’ve experienced in Canada,” RCMP Supt. Doug Best said.

From the Russian news outlet RT, highlighting the critical role that Canada-U.S. security cooperation played in the arrests and will continue to play in border security:

Not only did two federal agencies operated by the US government assist in the probe, but plans are in the works to allow for these entities and others to have greater power when pursuing cross-border investigations. RCMP Chief Superintendent Joe Oliver spoke with Canada’s Embassy News recently and explained how current rules — while relatively lax — are impeding international investigations like the one foiled on Monday.

Three months and a day after the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, the US and Canada signed the Smart Border Declaration, in turn agreeing to increase information sharing and law enforcement cooperation between the two countries. In the decade-plus since, agencies on either side of the border have seen things change dramatically. The Canadian Public Safety Office notes that the signing of the Smart Border Declaration led to the creation of Integrated Border Enforcement Teams (IBETS) “to jointly investigate cross-border criminal and terrorist activity.” Today there are IBETs operating in 15 regions along the US/Canada border drawing upon the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency to cooperate directly with the US Coast Guard, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Five years after that agreement was signed, Canadian Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day said that the FBI was approving US officials to conduct “routine investigations” on a regular basis across the border up to 50 miles deep into Canadian territory.

And the Canada-U.S. cooperation regarding this foiled plot is not finished, according to Congressman Brian Higgins (D-NY):

Brian Higgins, the ranking Democrat on a congressional counter-terrorism subcommittee looking into the alleged terrorist plot involving two Canadian permanent residents, said a bi-national effort to sift through available intelligence is still under way, but that some answers may be imminent, in an interview with CTV’s Question Period on Sunday morning.

“I think there’s a lot of information to go through here, and I suspect over the next 48 hours you’ll see good, verifiable information about just who was involved, who were they connected with, were they acting alone?” Mr. Higgins told CTV. “And I think that’s good for the good that it can do relative to thwarting the next terrorist plot that may be in the planning stages.”  [Source:  Key Information in Canadian Terror Plot to be Released within 48 hours, says U.S. CongressmanJames Bradshaw, The Globe & Mail]

Enhancing border security, whether stopping terror plots of combating organized crime, is a direct aim of the Beyond the Border (BTB) Initiative.

The BTB Implementation Report, released in December 2012, shows the impressive security cooperation achieved by Canada and the United States already:

Produced a joint inventory of existing intelligence work, initiated joint intelligence
assessments, and taken steps to institutionalize analytic collaboration;

• Improved our understanding of each country’s legal, policy and operational approaches to
information sharing for national security purposes, as well as identified and addressed areas
for improvement in the broader bilateral information sharing relationship;

• Created an inventory of U.S. and Canadian domain awareness capabilities at the border and
undertaken an analysis to identify gaps; and

• Shared and advanced research, best practices, and tools for law enforcement for countering
violent extremism, emphasizing community-based and community-driven efforts.

Whether its foiling terror plots or combating organized crime, both Canada and the United States have much to gain from building on BTB’s security accomplishments.


Canadian Chamber of Commerce President: “Inefficient Border Policies” Hurt Canada-U.S. Trade Industries

April 26, 2013

President and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce Perrin Beatty highlighted the considerable trade barriers that remain between Canada and the United States.

Miami Today reports on Beatty’s speech to the Great Miami Chamber of Commerce:

According to Mr. Beatty, although bilateral trade has almost tripled since the Canada and US free trade agreement was enacted, “inefficient border policies” hurt trade industries, as these make it more costly to serve the North American market.

“It simply defies logic that we allow minor regulatory differences to hurt our industries,” Mr. Beatty said. “I can assure you our competitors aren’t making the same mistake.”

According to a Canada and Florida 2011 economic impact study by the Consulate General of Canada in Miami, country of origin reporting duties are “far more lax on products crossing state borders than they are crossing an international border.”

“When our country prescribes the size of soup cans, it makes it difficult for American products to get into Canada,” he said, “it adds no value and doesn’t provide consumer protection, but adds costs, limits choice, and makes our businesses weaker.”

While both countries’ leaders are choosing to tackle these issues, he said, trade business leaders also need to promote both countries’ mutual interests globally, citing the importance of the Trans Pacific Partnership negotiations.


Border Fee Study Snags Another Congressional Critic

April 23, 2013

Congressman Bill Owens (D-NY) has pledged to “explore all legislative options” to prevent a proposed Department of Homeland Security study on the “feasibility and cost” of a new border crossing fee.

BTBObserver blogged yesterday on boilerplate language included in the White House’s FY14 DHS budget directing DHS to assess the impact of imposing a new fee on border crossings along America’s northern and southwestern border.

Congressman Brian Higgins (D-NY) has already harshly criticized the proposal.

Now Congressman Owens has announced his opposition to the study.  (Learn more about Congressman Owens and his work on the Beyond the Border Initiative.) 

From North Country Now:
Owens, representative to the U.S. House of Representatives from the North Country’s 21st Congressional District and co-chairman of the Congressional Northern Border Caucus, said such a fee would not be good for business or for relations with our northern neighbors.
 
“Imposing a fee to cross the border is a bad idea, plain and simple,” Owens said. “I represent a number of communities that depend on Canadian travelers and investment to support local businesses and job growth. Instead of adding an additional barrier for commerce, we should be taking more steps to ease the legitimate flow of people and goods between our two countries.”

“I will explore all legislative options available to me to prevent this move in the months ahead,” Owens said.

“Good work is being done across the district to reduce wait times and promote increased trade with America’s neighbor to the North. We should keep focus on these positive developments and set aside any initiatives that would diminish the progress already taking hold.”


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