I agree. We need passports. People have told me that when they go to Canada, it's harder for them to get into Canada then it is to come back to the US. Now that's saying something.
President Bush, the Canadian and Mexican borders are INTERNATIONAL. I needed a passport to go to France. I also have to have one when I go to China. Just because Canada, Mexico, and the Caribbean nations are our neighbors, that does not mean that we are to give them special status.
For weeks Customs agents have been informing Americans entering Mexico that by 2007 they will have to have passports to re-enter the USA. Wasn't our Commander in Chief aware of what was happening? This is just another indication that Bush is unable to concentrate on more than one issue at a time.
In the entire history of botht the U.S. and Canada, a passport has never been required of citizens of one country to have a passport to enter from the other. The commuter and busines relationship between Canada and the U.S. is intense with millions of crossings at single crossing points every year. Checking passports is not practical for either nation. Canadians are also excempt from getting visas from embassies and are excempt from the fingerprinting requirements. When the border was closed after 9/11, the auto industry, as well as many others, shut down in the U.S. and Canada. 100,000's of layoffs were planned if the border wasn't opened ASAP. The economies of both countries depend on expidited border crossing. That's why the border was opened long before flights were resumed. Shutting down the airlines was less costly economically than interrupting border crossings.