Reverse Customs

Why are we asking for money at the Windsor Court House for security officers to check people as they go into the building. Why don't we just check them quickly as they leave?

Why do we have these long line-ups at Security checkpoints at airports? Why don't we just check the bags after a flight has arrived?

Why, when entering certain buildings in New York or London, does the security officer call up to the person you are meeting and make them come down to escort you to his/her office? Why don't they just ask whom you met as you are exiting?

No I have not been out in the sun too long. Isn't this the absurd situation we have at the Tunnel and Bridge? People who go into Canada or the US are searched after they have gone through the Tunnel or over the Bridge.

Here is an excerpt from the news story about the recent session at the Selfridge Air National Guard Base:

• "In addition, the outbreak of fighting in the Middle East has heightened the need for detecting and stopping people with links to terrorism from crossing the country's northern border, said U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Patrick Brennan, commander of the agency's Detroit district.
  
  "The movement of persons with possible terrorist connections into the U.S. from Canada is of grave concern to the Coast Guard and all of our (Department of Homeland Security) partners, as well as our Canadian partners," Brennan said at Selfridge Air National Guard Base not far from the Canadian border.
  
  The Detroit district contains "several of our nation's most critical pieces of infrastructure" linking the two countries, Brennan said. They include the Ambassador Bridge, which alone carries 40 percent of the trade between the two countries, he said.
  
  The Ambassador Bridge, the Detroit-Windsor Tunnel, Blue Water Bridge between Port Huron, Mich., and Sarnia as well as nearby train tunnels, are crucial economic links between the deeply connected trading partners, he said."

Does the system of inspection we have now make any sense to you? Does it make you feel more secure? Is it really that difficult a problem to solve?

Back in December, 2004, Ann Mclellan and Tom Ridge announced Land Preclearance Pilots:

• "On the 3rd anniversary of the signing of the Canada-United States Smart Border Declaration, Canadian Deputy Prime Minister, the Honourable Anne McLellan, and U.S. Secretary of Homeland Security Tom Ridge today released the fifth Smart Border Action Plan Status Report. Highlights of the significant progress made include:
  
  issuance of a framework to put land preclearance in place at the Buffalo-Fort-Erie Peace Bridge and at one other border crossing. The preclearance pilot at the Peace Bridge would involve the re-location of all U.S. primary and secondary border operations for both commercial and passenger traffic from Buffalo to Fort Erie. At the second pilot site, Canadian border functions will be moved to the U.S. side of the border, with the two Governments actively exploring crossings where this may be suitable, such as the Thousand Islands Bridge or Queenston-Lewiston."

I would have thought that "reverse customs" is a no-brainer but apparently not. I am not sure what the status of the pilot is but I did see an article that said

• "More than a year after the shared-border management pilot project was announced by senior Canadian and American officials, an agreement between the two countries setting out the legal and administrative framework still hasn't been finalized. "

In Windsor, the Bridge Company has been pushing for reverse custom for years. But our Mayors and Chairs of the Windsor Tunnel Commission have not been doing it until recently. And why not you might ask since isn't the job of the Mayor to be concerned about the safety of Tunnel users.

Of course it is but then again the Mayor wears another hat too: Chair of the Windsor Tunnel Commission. Reverse Customs would have made the Tunnel uncompetitive with the Bridge:

• "...bridge officials are pushing strongly for the reversal of customs. Under a plan already devised by the bridge company, drivers would pass customs and pay tolls then take off across the bridge "as if they were back on a highway" without any stop on the other side.
  
  He said the plan includes a combination of truck pre-clearance and filtering traffic to specific lanes that separate leisure travellers, commuters, just-in-time trucks and other transport traffic.
  
  Hurst, who sits on the tunnel commission, said such plans are not feasible at the tunnel.
  
  "It creates some real difficulties because as you know there is not a lot of plaza space available on either side," he said."

The inherent conflict of interest as Mayor and as WTC Chair may have been a cause for risks at the Tunnel and the Bridge that are unacceptable in this world today. The lack of action has been shameful.

Now that the Senior Levels are going to throw $20 million to fix up the Tunnel Plaza, it makes it easier to do reverse customs at the Tunnel. Thus Eddie at the Mackinac Conference can come out in favour of it and pretend that he is now interested in Tunnel safety. He better stop pretending and start getting concerned too or else Tranpsort Canada will be under huge pressure to close down the Tunnel since it poses a "unique" security risk!

Hmmm all of this non-action on reverse customs to help the Tunnel's competitive position. Is this perhaps a pattern---all of the non-action on the various arena proposals to help out the Casino's competitive position. I wonder....