Quicker today than before 9/11, Jacobson claims
Susan Delacourt Ottawa Bureau
OTTAWA – Security may be tighter, but getting across the Canada-U.S. border today is faster than it was before the terrorist strikes of 2001, U.S. Ambassador David Jacobson says.
Jacobson, in his first major public remarks on Canada-U.S. border concerns, told an Ottawa audience Tuesday that for all the worries about “thickening” of the border between the two countries, the reality is that things are getting better.
“We’re already making progress. Border wait times today are, on the average, less than they were prior to Sept. 11,” Jacobson told a sold-out crowd of politicos, lobbyists and business people at the Chateau Laurier. “In fact, since 2007, average border wait times for passengers have been cut by almost a third and during that same period of time for goods, wait times have been cut in half.”
This progress has come despite concerns about all the extra security measures and passport requirements, Jacobson noted, as well as a perceived rise in U.S. protectionism since the economic crash of 2008. Some Canada-U.S. experts have suggested that wait times are down because overall trade traffic is also on the decline since the downturn.
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This is pretty interesting.. I don't think that I have noticed a change in my experience/wait times in crossing the border pre 9/11 to more recently. I remember immediately after there being major changes and heightened security, however, recently I've found that I'm being let over the border almost too easily. I am usually asked very basic questions, and let across without problems. Does anyone else notice big differences? Or also find that sometimes they might have been let over the border without a lot of questioning? Would being asked more questions make you feel more safe?
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