Before the attacks, there was serious talk of more or less opening the Canada/US border for commerce and ease of entry for citizens.
Is it safe to say this will never happen now?
Never say never. Things will die down. They always do. I’m sure one day all that open border talk will come back.
There has been extensive planning to streamline commercial traffic over the Canada/US border for a long time now. After the attacks, I think these plans will actually be fast-tracked rather than put on the back burner.
Procedures already in the works are the certification & registration of individual drivers with both US & Canada customs, registered and tagged vehicles that can be tracked (perhaps by GPS or similar means), possible commerce-only border crossings and special customs “zones” or “corridors” with customs officers stationed at both point of departure and point of destination rather than just at the border. All of the above proposed changes will have the effect of both speeding up commercial traffic and making it safer. In my area (Niagara Falls, ON), truckers are now facing delays of anywhere from 10 to 14 hours at the border points so the faster new procedures are adopted, the better.
As for private traffic, I’m sorry to say that visitors and tourists are going to face a lot more hassle for the foreseeable future. This is upsetting because my area’s economy has already taken a huge hit due to the fall in tourism although its certainly understandable given the circumstances. It really brings home the fact how much Canada and the US depend on each other.
Hodge