President Obama ponders Canadian pay off of $5.50 per air, marine passenger...

I would have thought this would cause an outrage or some speaking up in Canada but I expect it has not been publicized as much as it should have. I am preturbed at the lack of exposure this has gained and the lack of expression from Canadians on the street.
According to the articles read, there would be a adopted levy of $5.50 for all commercial air and marine passengers from Canada, Mexico and the Caribbean. How would this help the relationship between the two countries? Particularly if they were taking about border security or is it one of those bait and switch psychological manipulations??


www.vancouversun.com...

www.financialpost.com...

reply to post by gardCanada


BTW moderators, if this story has been submitted, please move.

Thanks!

reply to post by gardCanada


The U.S. Government is just isolating it's country even further in my opinion.

Expect more "slights" in the future as they try to hem themselves in even further. It's a shame really, the worlds longest unprotected border becoming even more difficult to cross with the advent of needing passports and now "user fees", all because of needing money to protect against that imaginary terrorist from Canada.

I don't think this is going to go over very well once it becomes more public.

Another slap in the face for the US s best friend, and closest ally.
Would they take umbrage if we likewise charged them say ten bucks a head?
Sck and tired of the US rip off....close the freakin bordwe nd chuck they key away tell em t stuff Norad, the russians dont want to bomb caanada anyways...it the US that gets the benefits...im am totally done with the US govt. when you have the revolution give us a call....

reply to post by stirling


Yes, perhaps a little more than $10 per person since our dollar has been purposely kept lower for so long, and if thats not enough- what about other issues such as what is owed for British Columbia Hydro and ahem soft wood lumber tariffs which our government bends over and lets us take it in the @$$ again...

But I do think its something to do with the border deal- maybe something like "Uh ok, Stephen....sign here, here and here, and no more discussion of the per person charge and Canada belongs to us."

It kinda sounds like the ole adage stealin from peter to pay paul . Either way The US should close its borders so our parasites don't leak into canada. I respect Canada because they are their own sovereign country and they should respect us we need to close our own shop to fix our problems before we infect them....Just my opinion. That also means closing our southern border too.

reply to post by agentblue


The thing is, since we Canadians now require passports to get into your country, the border became safer with just that act.

This 5.50 is more of a tax grab just to help with your debt. It doesn't make anything safer one bit and Canadians will continue to go to the States just as often as they do now. The problem is that it sort of comes off like a slap in the face as we try to keep this border as safe as possible while at the same time, keeping it as friendly as it has been since it;s inception.

reply to post by gardCanada


I'm disturbed in general in the lackluster reporting done by our media. I was surprised at how fast we organized when the CRTC announced the Usage-By-Billing internet.

reply to post by Dendro


I think this is going to grow in steam the next few days myself. When Obama was here just a few days ago and he and Harper talked about securing the border, apparently this was never brought up.

I just fear it will make a division amongst the people of both countries as these things tend to do, when in fact it's just Governments at play..

Tribewilder, we'll see if the media picks it up. They sure picked up our PM stating Egypt's revolution was like putting the toothpaste back in the tube... What do you think will happen after that? I doubt that the President would reconsider this but we'll see. I doubt without public pressure, the standing Canadian government would actually do anything besides stating they disagree with this.

reply to post by Dendro


The internet billing petition was easy Dendro, because all we had to do was link to the site, sign the petition and send. I do write about the issues that disatisfy me but it was a breeze to fill out the petition. Perhaps we need one for this when we need to express disatisfaction, but, is this what happened in Egypt wrt (with respect to) socialmedia. I don't think Canadians would be up to continuing a fight unless it truly did hit home. Then we'd kick @$$.

reply to post by gardCanada


That's very true. I partially blame Canadian MSM and their unwillingness to report on anything of true merit until it's too late for our inability to organize other than simple online petitions.

Originally posted by gardCanada
Tribewilder, we'll see if the media picks it up. They sure picked up our PM stating Egypt's revolution was like putting the toothpaste back in the tube... What do you think will happen after that? I doubt that the President would reconsider this but we'll see. I doubt without public pressure, the standing Canadian government would actually do anything besides stating they disagree with this.

I've seen this on Canada AM 2 days in a row now, and on Global National, and The National.....
Don't forget, our news media is very different from the US, we report a story and move on to the next, the US media does every story to death, for days......

I clearly watch too much news.

People are speaking out, not so much about the trivial cost, but about the principle. When Cdns are in the States, we spend money. The extra $5.50 is ridiculous. Harper was even speaking on it, he said it was a revenue grab from a country that clearly needs the money, but from his expression and what he said, you can tell he thinks this idea of Obama's is very silly.

reply to post by gardCanada


I think that there is an election in our near future. Just my opinion of course but notice how quickly Harper acted on the internet fiasco. There were so many names on that online petition that he knew that it was great fodder for an attack ad from the Liberals.

With that said, I think that anything that seems to rile the average Canadian will be looked at very closely as Harper knows that he needs all the help that he can get. So the more that we are aware of any situation, the more chance of it being changed to our liking.

This along with all of the protests in the Middle East have made the world leaders quite wary of their actions so as to not make this any worse.

This is all conjecture on my part of course but I do see a small change happening already in the way the citizens are viewing their leadership.

Interesting times indeed......