Hello,
I vacation in Canada every summer and love Canada and Canadians. They
are fine people. They have a great country. The exhibit great
patience with us, but sometimes get a little exasperated.
The summer after 9-11, the Canadian border guys told us we needed
passports to get in, after we had driven 1000 miles. A driver's
license was all that had been required previously, and we usually
didn't even have to show that; they asked the usual gun/alcohol/gifts
for Canadians questions and waved us through.
But the U.S. side had been hassling Canadians trying to get into
Washington, by understaffing the crossings and demanding usual amounts
of ID.
So it was tit-for-tat. The guy tried to be hard-nosed, but most
Canadians can't manage that very well. Eventually he let us in without
the passport, doing his best to be unfriendly, but failing.
If they, the Canadians, really want to piss Americans off and cause
trouble for the U.S., they will let them in without passports, so they
can't come back without giant hassles from th U.S. side. I can see
it now: hundreds of irate Americans stuck in Canada because they don't
have American passports. Even those who have passports will face huge
lineups at the border because of the processing of those without.
During the summer, on certain days, it can take hours to cross the
border into the U.S., even without passport requirements in place.
I hope they don't do it, but we deserve it. Canada is our closest
ally, our dearest friend, and we have abused her in recent years. We
are brother countries. It says so on the Peace Arch.
Carlos