Niagara Falls Blog – Travel and Tourism News

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Licences in, passports out?

JENNIFER PELLEGRINI

Tuesday, June 26, 2007 – 07:00

Local News – The head of the Department of Homeland Security hinted he might be softening his stance on the requirement to show a passport to enter the U.S., during a visit to the Buffalo side of the Peace Bridge Monday.

Michael Chertoff said enhanced driver’s licences might be an acceptable alternative after all.

“We want to work with state authorities to get that underway early next year,” Chertoff told reporters, after touring the bridge property. “This is about finding a way forward that is reasonable, but also secure.”

Until now, he has strongly supported the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, announced in 2005, which would have required everyone – including Americans – to show a passport to gain entry to the U.S. by 2008.

Chertoff also said he would be willing to work with provincial officials so Canadian driver’s licences could also be considered as an acceptable form of identification at the American border.

“I think it’s a great idea to have Canadian governments do the same,” Chertoff said.

“If we get a real commitment to get things done in the provinces as well as the states, I think we can lick this problem.”

Following the meeting, Chertoff agreed to meet with Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, who represents Western New York, at New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s office in Albany within the next month to start planning

That’s good news to Slaughter, who has been advocating for an alternative to the passport regulation since the travel initiative was announced.

“I am very pleased that Secretary Chertoff will join me in discussions concerning the creation of an enhanced driver’s licence,” said Slaughter. “As I’ve said all along, an enhanced driver’s licence is a better option for the people of Western New York and for many cross-border travellers, than a passport.”

It’s also good news to St. Catharines MPP Jim Bradley. As Ontario’s tourism minister, he met with representatives from Homeland Security earlier this year and urged them to consider an enhanced passport system as an approved document for U.S. entry.

“For a long time, we heard they would not entertain anything other than a passport,” Bradley said, noting the Nexus card has since been added to the list of options and there have been waivers for students.

“We saw that as genuine progress. If we can enhance the security (of a driver’s licence), that will be a viable option. We don’t want to turn a war on terrorism into a war on tourism.”

Following the tour, Chertoff also pledged to beef up the number of United States Customs and Border Protection officers staffing the gateway to the United States as a means of speeding up entry.

If Chertoff appeared to waver on his hardline stance passports would be the only acceptable form of identification at land, border and sea ports once the travel initiative is fully implemented, he did not back down on his decision to block the Shared Border Management Plan at the bridge.

Saying he promised Buffalo residents his “honest assessment” of the plan (which would move the U.S. Customs to the Canadian side of the Peace Bridge), he determined shared border management would not work.

“I have a lot of respect for the Canadian courts, but what I cannot agree to is to surrender United States security to Canadian courts,” he said. “The solution is likely to be on this (American) side of the border.”

Ron Rienas, general manager of the Peace Bridge Authority who took part in Chertoff’s tour, said he appreciated having Chertoff come to the bridge to fully understand the issues facing northern border control.

“It’s always important that people from Washington and Ottawa come to see the problems first hand,” he said.

In addition to being heartened by Chertoff’s softened stance on secure documents, he was also pleased to address the issue of shared border management.

Although Rienas had been an advocate for the new approach to the Canada-U.S. border, he said having a definitive answer from Chertoff means the bridge authority can plan other ways to improve the flow of commercial and passenger traffic across the border.

“It allows us to move forward,” he said.

jpellegrini@nfreview.com
ID- 585923

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