OTTAWA - Further changes are urgently needed to the way people and goods flow across the Canada-U.S. border, say business groups from both countries.
Without changes, bottlenecks at key border crossings will be inescapable once the current recession comes to an end, say the Canadian and U.S. chambers of commerce.
Uncertainty about what documentation is needed is discouraging people from taking short trips across the border.
"People uncertain about what sort of requirements there are going to be are simply choosing not to cross the border," Perrin Beatty, president and CEO of the Canadian Chamber of Commerce, told a news conference Tuesday.
"So we're finding day trips into Niagara or day trips across the border between Windsor (Ont.) and Detroit falling off as a consequence."
Those people making frequent trips across the border have been encouraged in recent years to apply for a Nexus card, which was designed as an alternative to a passport when entering the United States.
But often Nexus card holders are told they also require a passport.
"This creates a disincentive for people to take a spontaneous trip across the border," said Beatty.
"The confusion on this and the excess requirements discourage travel across the border."
In a report released Tuesday, the chambers of commerce recommend that governments on both sides of the border better advertise the documentation requirements to cross from one country to the other.
Once the recession ends, they say, it will become even more critical for people and businesses to have correct information on what they need to cross the border.
"Part of what this report is trying to do is to make sure that we don't see ... economic consequences," says Adrean Rothkopf, vice-president of Western Hemisphere Affairs for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Manufacturers also face much more red tape to send goods across the Canada-U.S. border than do exporters of goods from other countries, say the chambers.
Beatty says new technology has reduced wait times at border crossings.
But that's partly because travel volumes are significantly lower than they were before the recession hit, he said.
"When we see the economy starting to grow again, and when volumes start to increase, we'll be seeing pressures at key border crossings," said Beatty.
The report points to automotive imports as an example of where red tape slows the flow of goods.
Automobiles being imported from countries outside of Canada and the U.S. typically require a single customs clearance, it says, in contrast to North American manufactured automobiles, which face thousands of customs and security clearances as they move across the border during various stages of production.
