Imagine that the US and Canada open the border completely, taking down all checkpoints and letting people move across freely, such as is possible in the Schengen area in Europe.
Would the world end in a blaze of explosions? Would anyone sit back and say “dernit, I wish they had never torn down this border, because all them Canadians can come over without passing through Customs and cause trouble.”?
I think it’s a great idea. We might have to make a few adjustments to make it happen, but whatever those are, we should be doing them, now. I’m afraid the Canadians might not be too keen on what we’d ask them to do concerning border control for people entering from countries other than the US, though. I wouldn’t blame them.
I’d go further and advocate for an Anglo-sphere free trading and travel block (including Australia, the UK and New Zealand). We did some thread on this a few years back.
I suspect there’s some kind of underlying motive here as it relates to Mexico/Hispanic nations.
OMG, Is it possible, we agree on something?
And that would be what, exactly?
Anglo-sphere free world trading?
Well, let’s wait until someone brings that up to worry about that.
I would not support opening the border with Mexico simply because our economies are so different. The issue of a language barrier is problematic, too, but of lesser concern.
But opening the border would mean an end to ever so pleasurable government funded prostate massages.
I’d be all for it, but I have a feeling some of our Canadian Dopers won’t be that keen on it. To be honest, I’d feel a little bad myself inflicting some of my neighbors on hapless Canadians.
I’d vote for it though.
The border is effectively open as it is. The truth is that Canada / USA border control is, for most people, nothing more than a huge hassle that holds them up from conducting peaceful and lawful business, and anyone who’s serious and competent about conducting malfeasance can get around border controls with ridiculous ease.
If you open US/Canadian border completely, you lose control over what/who enters the US and under what conditions. For example see http://www.usitc.gov/tata/hts/bychapter/index.htm - let’s say for some of these things Canadian rates are a lot lower. So you import into Canada then move it over to the US.
Any grand opening of the Canada-US would be seen by Canadians as a complete surrendering of our sovereignty (up here, we’re obsessed with this issue). It’d also be the start of Canada’s complete dissolution and the addition of eight new stars on the American flag. I say eight cuz, PEI would probably not be given statehood and if Canada did this, Quebec would be the province with the biggest bone to pick, why would they join such an “Anglo-sphere” creation?
This was pretty much the norm until recently. Sure there were crosspoints but about all they did is ask if you had bad fruit on you. Or did you mean more of an EU sort of thing where one could also freely work and reside?
They said that about the 1988 Free Trade Agreement. They were wrong.
An open border is not a surrender of sovereignty; again, we have an open border as it is, and have for a century, at least. It’s cost us no sovereignty.
I thought there was a push in the US to tighten the border with Canada. Like drones and cameras everywhere. It seems the US isn’t a big fan of all the ecstasy and marijuana that is currently crossing the border.
Would we have to start being really nice? Not sure that would go over very well.
Canadian’s would not be happy to see guns flood into their country, which an open border would certainly cause. We’re not keen to emulate your attitude to guns.
They’d never go for it, in my opinion.
Why would guns flood over the border?
Osmosis? Seasonal migration?
Well, we have lots of guns already. I daresay the American attitude hasn’t snuck across despite decades of being exposed to the television and movies, so I don’t see why an open border might.