If you travel to the United States at all, I hope you’ve been paying attention to the radio and newspaper ads telling you to get a passport to travel south of the border. While this has been a requirement for air travel, it now extends to crossing the border by car as well.

The need for a passport to travel to the U.S. is not a Canadian government requirement. It is an American rule, a result of 9-11.  This passport requirement was actually supposed to be implemented a couple of years back. But lobbying by Canadian MPs convinced the U.S. Congress to delay the new restriction.

While I’m hopeful that these new rules won’t hurt trade between Canada and the U.S., I am saddened by the ‘thickening” of the border between our two countries.  While business has slowly been finding ways to work with border regulations, ordinary travel is sure to be affected. Americans who want to come up to Canada for a weekend will pass on the opportunity and our two nations could grow farther apart.

Canada and the U.S. have fought together in six wars in the last 100 years; many families have ties on both sides of the border. It is not a good thing that our American cousins have retreated behind a wall, afraid of the world. As a Member of Parliament, I will continue to work to keep Canadian travel and trade free. I will keep explaining to my American colleagues why the United States needs to be open to Canada.

I’m Brad Trost your Member of Parliament in Saskatoon-Humboldt.  You can call my office in Saskatoon at 975-6133 or drop by our two offices to visit: Saskatoon Monday-Friday or Humboldt Tuesday and Wednesday. I always appreciate your feedback.