The security agreement signed last week between Canada and the United States marks another step along the road to removing cross-border business and travel logjams.
Governments in both countries must still pass legislation to finalize the deal that expands pre-clearance for travellers between the two countries, but allowing them to go through customs prior to getting to the border recognizes the need to eliminate bureaucratic bottlenecks stalling North American trade.
The March 16 announcement follows the launch in February of Phase 2 in a Canada-U.S. project that allows U.S. Customs and Border Protection to inspect truck cargo in Canada. Phase 1 of the pilot project was launched in June 2013 at the Pacific Highway truck crossing between Surrey and Blaine.
Both initiatives are good news for travellers and businesses on this side of the border as the flow of goods from Asia and other rapidly expanding economies increases through Port Metro Vancouver and the Port of Prince Rupert, which recently announced a $200 million project to expand its container-cargo-handling capacity by 60%.
Victoria’s 10-year, $2.5 billion B.C. on the Move plan should also improve transportation within B.C.’s borders.
But all three initiatives also beg the question of when Canada and its provinces will take more meaningful action to remove interprovincial trade barriers that restrict the east-west trade in such products as wine.
Reducing cross-border train travel complications should also persuade businesses and politicians on both sides of the B.C.-U.S. border to revisit establishing a high-speed, or at least any viable, commuter rail link connecting Vancouver with Seattle, Portland and other Cascadian urban centres.
The region has much to gain from expedited north-south movement of goods and the workforce talent needed to cultivate the continental West Coast’s increasingly sophisticated innovation and technology sector.
