President Barack Obama is floating the idea of charging a fee for every Canadian entering the U.S. by air or sea.
Pablo Martinez Monsivais/APPresident Barack Obama is floating the idea of charging a fee for every Canadian entering the U.S. by air or sea.
The proposal is outlined in the 2012 federal draft budget he submitted to Congress on Monday.
The $5.50 fee would not apply to visitors arriving in private vehicles.
Visitors from Canada, Mexico and a number of Caribbean countries are currently exempt from “passenger inspection fees.”
Obama's budget blueprint proposes lifting those exemptions and using the revenue from the charges to support air passenger inspections which have recently grown more intensive.
According to Statistics Canada some 16 million Canadians flew into the U.S. in 2009.
The proposal comes as Canada and the U.S. move toward increased cross-border cooperation on other fronts.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Obama signed off earlier this month on a plan that for the first time envisions throwing up a single security ring around the perimeter of Canada and the U.S.
The wide-ranging blueprint calls for increased cooperation between the two countries' police, border and intelligence agencies, an integrated Canada-U.S. exit-entry system using high-tech identification techniques, and more sharing of information about Canadians with U.S. authorities.
The document was prepared last fall, when the Canada-U.S. talks were being conducted without any public notice.
While Canadian industry cautiously endorsed that agreement, the proposed fee is unlikely to meet with enthusiasm.
“It's an indication that the United States is going to be looking to generate new moneys to offset their budget deficit on outsiders who don't vote — and that would be us,” Birgit Matthiesen, of the Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters, told the Ottawa Citizen. “The raising of any fees on the Canada-U.S. border is troubling.”
The group is Canada's largest trade and industry association
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