Canadian Report Urges Border Security Pact

(HS Today – Mickey McCarter)

Styled after NORAD, commission would examine security vs. commerce

Once President-elect Barack Obama takes office, he will receive border security recommendations from a wide range of constituencies – including some that are not Americans.

At least one significant pitch has already been made by a prominent Canadian think tank for the United States and Canada to join forces in the creation of a border commission styled on the process that established the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD).

In a report titled “A New Bridge for Old Allies,” the Canadian International Council called for the formation of a Permanent Joint Border Commission (PJBC), which would examine regulations originating from both countries and their impact on border security and commerce with the intent of protecting the economic interests of each. In so doing, the border commission would act much like the Permanent Joint Board of Defense, which meets semi-annually and set the ground rules for setting up the U.S.-Canadian partnership in NORAD.

“A record of unprecedented joint cooperation in defense and security over the past seven decades should be transferable to a mutual confidence in each country’s capacity to collaborate as partners to protect their citizens from threats, be they from terrorists, illegal substances or unsafe products,” the report concluded. “Cooperatively enforced, virtual border security measures based on information technologies and intelligence sharing can be as effective as physical barriers.”

“At the same time, establishing stronger trust at our borders can inspire the confidence necessary to develop joint initiatives aimed at clearing away residual trade and regulatory barriers which greatly weaken our interdependent economic relationship,” the report added.

Two high-level Cabinet officials from each nation’s government would co-chair the board and report back to their heads of state. The commission would include officials from border and economic agencies. The report anticipates the creation of such an organization by the end of 2009.

The report, authored by Michael Kergin and Birgit Matthiesen, sees the border commission as a necessity for reversing losses caused by tightened border security measures since 9/11. Seventy percent of U.S.-Canadian trade is intra-industry while 40% is intra-corporate, the report estimated, and commerce over the border yields $1.7 billion a day.

But despite these figures, U.S. tourism to Canada has dropped 30% since 9/11, the report found. It cited a study by the American Transportation Research Institute, which found that “inefficiencies” in border security have increased trading costs by 10-15%. The Canadian economy pays $952,000 per operational hour for any border delay, totaling losses in the Canadian trucking industry at $280 million annually. The U.S. trucking industry, by contrast, loses $9 billion annually to border delays, creating an economic interest for the United States to consider establishment of the border commission.

The report, first published November 25, 2008, also recognized benefits from the inclusion of Mexico in a larger border security framework.