Canadians, Americans drifting apart on shared security since 9/11

[CHIMO]

The highs and lows of the Canada-U.S. relationship are felt most keenly in the border towns that dot the 49th parallel.

As he prepared to celebrate the northern version of Thanksgiving in Emerson, Man., last week, Mayor Wayne Arseny said he has seen the relationship strengthen and then soften over the last decade.

After 9/11, a sense of sympathy drew Canadians and Americans closer together, he said. In those days, both the Maple Leaf and the Stars and Stripes flew outside Mr. Arseny’s home. He had good friends on both sides of the border, and Americans from nearby Pembina, N.D., visited regularly. But lately, the border seems like an insurmountable obstacle, he said. With the need for passports, heavier scrutiny from border guards and the slide in the U.S. dollar, old American friends are increasingly reluctant to come north, Mr. Arseny said.

“We’re seeing a dramatic change,” he said. “The Americans just aren’t coming any more.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/canadians-americans-drifting-apart-on-shared-security-since-911/article1752750/

[Grey]

1. And, we're not going there, as much.

I just got photographed twice, naked. But, people that got off the same cruise ship could walk off, into the parking lot without a sniff.

I, on the other hand, couldn't transfer to Air Canada, without another scan and X-ray. To add insult to injury, we had to slepp our luggage from Air Canada Florida to Air Canada Toronto and go through the whole scan again. If the Americans couldn't secure our luggage when it was in their control how could they expect us to be responsible for it? When we flew from Vancouver, BC to Amsterdam, Holland with a stop in London, our luggage was transfered straight through with no problem. The highs and lows of the Canada-U.S. relationship are even felt 7 hours drive north of the border as well.