It's A Simple Matter of Whom You Trust

Nothing like being taken for granted as a good neighbour when it suits, but on other occasions looking askance at collaboration between neighbours to benefit both. But that's par for the course for Canada, living next door to their great big brother to the south. Big certainly has its advantages. Advantages such as diplomatic little pushes to ensure the smaller, less populous, less wealthy, less universally influential of the pair attends to the admonitions of the other.

Everything bad comes from Canada, it would seem, to unsettle the complacent normalcy of the United States. Miserable cold weather slips across the border from the northern state to incommode the residents of the southern-located state. Kind of resembling the threat constantly alerting the United States of criminal activity sliding through too-porous borders to threaten Americans. And, of late, would-be terrorists finding easy access to too-accommodating Canada to later make entry to the United States.

Therefore, the borders, once open and friendly between Canada and the United States, pre 9-11, must be shut tight and guarded assiduously. Where at one time Canadians and Americans could travel freely across the border from one to the other country for tourism, visiting family members on the 'other side', or for commercial reasons; working in one country, residing in the other, the door has slammed shut.

The burgeoning trade between the two countries has become hampered by new and rigorous regulations, all improvised post 9-11 by Homeland Security in the United States, and imposed against a northern neighbour who has never posed a threat of any kind. Free exchanges of goods and services have become dreadfully hampered. Suspicion by American authorities against their Canadian counterparts in taking the threat of terror seriously enough, abounds.

To the point where even a former U.S. Ambassador to Canada has taken note: "The hostility to Canada is the Department of Homeland Security taking a border and now requiring passports for people that have to go back and forth between Detroit and Windsor, making it harder for the movement of goods and services and people and treating Canada like it's leaking like a sieve for terrorists, which is not true", according to James Blanchard, formerly governor of Michigan.

Now, however, despite seriously hampering Canada and Canadians, the U.S. Department of Transportation has come to a realization that it could use some Canadian co-operation. And with the government of Canada's approval has announced initiatives to alleviate congestion and delays in transit in the busy New York transportation corridor. Plans include new alternate routes, neatly named "escape routes". Through Canadian airspace, as an assist to U.S. carriers.

Last year inclement weather conditions saw chaos in the Eastern seaboard throughout the summer months when U.S. carriers were plagued with inordinately difficult weather systems. What an inspired move; cajole Canada to open its skies for U.S. transit to avoid these miserable weather conditions and enable its carriers to carry on unobstructed and on time. While, at the same time, trade and travel between the two countries continues to be impeded.

And while this new move to avoid delays and cancellations in travel from New York's FJK and La Guardia airports by using Canadian airspace to avoid problems proceeds, the United States is in the throes of other demands upon Canada. Insisting on greater restrictions over its own airspace. The Department of Homeland Security Transport Security Administration is framing a program to force Canadian airlines to hand over passenger manifests to the U.S.

Impinging on Canadian sovereignty for one thing - even if the flight has no intention of landing on American soil. Privacy advocates are not thrilled with this turn of events, and Canadian airlines are rather rattled by this demand. Canada and its airlines have already submitted to earlier American demands by constructing a no-fly list in close collaboration with American authorities.

It's nice when there's reasonable give and take between neighbours. It's what makes for good neighbours. They go along to get along. And then there are other situations and other neighbours, where one insists on the goodwill of the other, spurning the need to exhibit the same toward its neighbour.