Sociology 354f—Class 4
October 4, 2005
Louis Pauly, “Canada in a New North America” pp. 90-109 in The
Rebordering….
Stephen Flynn. 2003. “The False Conundrum: Continental Integration
Versus Homeland Security” pp. 110-127 in The Rebordering….
Approaches after 9-11on the nature of the
ideal border with the US (p. 92-93)
• Increase in awareness of power asymmetries in the
Canadian-American relationship
• What are the two approaches on the border outlined?
– Pragmatic
– Romantic
• Which of these approaches do you think Pauly favours?
•
Which of these approaches, if either, would you take?
• Are there other approaches to the ideal border with the
US?
– Cynics? (p. 105)
What is your opinion of Pauly’s statement?
• That Canadians on both the extreme right and left
of the political spectrum “agreed on at least one
thing: that when I moved here in the late 1970s, I
had caught the tail end of the country’s brief
experience as a proud, independent, and unique
state.” (p. 93)
• That experience
– Began in earnest when the British Empire started
unravelling after WWI
– gathered serious momentum after WWII
– reached its apogee in a vast national exposition held in
Montreal in 1967
History of ‘fences’ at the Canada-US border:
•
1867: stop North American political union from emerging in the aftermath of
the US Civil War
•
Post 1945: build a Canada distinct from the US but not antagonistic to it—
called interdependence.
– Canadians wanted a high degree of policy autonomy and a level of prosperity close
to the average in the US (p. 95)
• Keep out problems associated with poor people, guns, disease and cultural influences
unwanted by the national elite
• Not to impede the inward flow of the people, money, goods and ideas deemed desirable by
Canadians
• Allow exit from Canada of exports, investments, and people
•
Post 1967
– More than interdependence: increased % of Cdn. trade with US and US dominance
– With trade agreements with the US and the US and Mexico, the fence was something
between full union and symmetrical interdependence
• Made both Canada and Mexico more dependent on US, since it locked them into a
continental agreement (p. 101)
Canadian aspirations for the border after 9-11(p. 103, 104)
• To preserve some policy autonomy on a full range of
issues
– But not too much
• To continue cooperating on continental defence, without
– requiring massive increases in defence spending
– turning Canada into a surrogate target for US enemies
– compromising Canada’s ultimate legal sovereignty
• To keep some distance from perceived excesses of US
social, political, and economic organization
• To approximate US levels of prosperity
– without completely abandoning the idea of social equity
Public opinion poll data shows Canadians
want sovereignty, by which we mean (p. 103)
• 83% included natural resources
• 81% included the national health care system
• 66% included the economy
• 64% immigration
• 58% the currency
• 52% transfer payments across provinces: equalization
The border of the future that Canadians desire
(p. 105)
• Robust enough to filter immigrants
• Stop unrestricted sale of certain natural resources
• Curtail access to subsidized health care by nonCanadians
• Limit the flow of personal firearms
• Prevent foreign investments in related spheres to
undermine the public character of the health care
system.
Possibility of two extreme futures (p. 106)
• Pauly fully supports pragmatism, but sees 2 other
possibilities
– Far right-of-center coalition could come to power and
complete the task of cross-border integration
• With all of the attendant social and political disruption this
would entail for both Canada and the US
– A coalition led by romantics of the left could come to
power borne on a wave of anti-Americanism
• Inevitably proving itself capable of leading to a system
benefiting an elite few Canadians
Flynn “The False Conundrum.
Continental Integration versus
Homeland Security
”
• This is a false conundrum in the sense that the
two are not really alternatives
• The shared risks of loss of life and massive
economic disruption presented by terrorist threat
should provide the basis for trilateral cooperation
– Which can remove longstanding barriers to continental
commerce precisely because those barriers themselves
can elevate security risks (p. 112)
– E.g. modernisation of longstanding limited border
infrastructure investment has commercial costs and
provides opportunities thugs and terrorists can exploit
The Hardened Border Paradox
• Hardening the Mexico-US border meant that the easy walks
the undocumented could take to cross the border in the
past were no longer possible (p. 112)
• Coyotes, who had always smuggled people for a price,
became more professional, expensive and criminalised
– When more money is involved in smuggling people, more customs
officials are bribed to look the other way, increasing corruption
• Creating longer waiting times for goods means that local
short haul drivers are employed right at the border
– Lower paid and more likely to be bribed to include illegal goods (p.
113)
The Open Border Paradox
• In contrast to its other border, Washington views its
security as optimized in the north by trying to keep the
border as open as possible while working to improve
binational cooperative agreements (p. 117)
• Efforts to harden the northern border seen as selfdefeating in both economic and security terms
– e. g. Closing the border in response to terrorist attack. Why?
• When the US closes its borders it imposes a blockade on its own
economy
• Thus, a small investment in terror could massively disrupt daily life and
have an adverse effect on the US and global economies
Why is closing the border so disruptive?
• Adoption of ‘just in time’ manufacturing systems in the
auto, auto parts, and other industries
• If supplies cannot be delivered just in time, plants close
and people lose jobs
• When the US closed the US-Canada border immediately
after 9-11
– Daimler Chrysler announced they would have to close a plant 2
days later
– Ford announced they would have to close 5 plants the following
week
• “Washington quickly reconsidered its initial response and within a
week the border inspection wait times returned to close to normal.” (p.
115)
Beyond Border Patrol
• Goal must not be to defend a line on a map, but
advance greater trilateral and global market
integration while managing important safety,
security, and other public policy interests
– Develop the means to validate in advance the
overwhelming majority of people and goods that cross
the border as law abiding and low risk
• How? (p. 118)
– Enhance the means of federal agents to target and
intercept inbound, high risk people and goods
• How? (p. 119)
Border comparisons (p. 123)
• While many challenges remain with regard to
adequate staffing, infrastructure, data
management and intelligence
– There is clearly a consensus that measures that would
have the net effect of hardening the Canada-US border
would be counterproductive
– In contrast to Mexico-US border, where even though
Pres. Fox has repeatedly offered to talk to the US about
softening the border, the US after 9-11 has not
reciprocated
• Why do you think this is so? (p. 123)
Vigilantes and truckers and the US Dep’t of
Homeland Security would not agree with
Flynn’s assessment that there is a
consensus against hardening the Canada
US border.
“American Civil Defence Group Begins Patrol of Canada-US Border” 10/2/05 The
Brandon Sun On-line(http://www.brandonsun.com/pfstory.php?story_id=5686)
•
A U.S. civilian border-watch group is expanding its operation to the 49th parallel.
For the month of October, the Minuteman Civil Defence Corps will take watch from their
cars and lawn chairs, with binoculars at the ready, in eight northern U.S. states
bordering seven Canadian provinces.
The volunteer group will have observers in Washington, Idaho, Montana, North Dakota,
Maine, Vermont, New Hampshire and New York. Some posts will be on border watch
24/7.
The Minutemen report to border officials when they observe individuals trying to illegally
enter the U.S.
Peter Buck of the Minutemen's New England chapter said the American government is
failing to supply the manpower needed to secure the northern border.
"People may be aware of the problem in the southwest but not be aware that the largest
non-militarized border in the world, the border between the United States and Canada . . .
is completely open," he said from Massachusetts.
"Last year we had 3,000 (illegal immigrants) that got caught in New York and New
England."
Washington-based Minuteman Tom Williams spoke recently with a patrol agent who said
the northern border Canada is just as vulnerable as anywhere else in the country.
"People still sneak across here all the time," Williams recounted. "They may not come in
the hundreds, or in the thousands, but they still do come, and any one of them could be
carrying a suitcase bomb for all we know."
Cont’d
•
… in recent months confidence in northern border security has been tested.
Three men from Surrey, B.C., were charged by Washington state officials last
July with digging a tunnel roughly the length of a football field under the
border to smuggle marijuana.
U.S. Customs spokesman Barry Morrissey says while he commends their
passion, the Minutemen are interfering in work better handled by trained
agents.
"We do ask for citizens to contact us with information that might lead us to
methods or areas of smuggling (but) we do not endorse or condone citizen
volunteer groups actually go and patrol," Morrissey said.
Demonstrators gathered in Washington State over the weekend to protest the
Minutemen's expanded border watch.
"If there's a problem with the border and border issues we need to sit down
together and talk about it, not walk around carrying guns or taking the law into
our own hands," protester Rosalinda Guillen said.
… Demonstrators gathered in Washington State over the weekend to protest
the Minutemen's expanded border watch.
Salim Jiwa
“Minuteman and his pooch Vigilante on guard for
U.S. of A.” 10/3/05 The Vancouver Province
http://www.canada.com/vancouver/story.html?id=e6578686-c645-4444-bc71135ab22f77b9
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A private army's plan to patrol the Canada-U.S. border fizzled into a
one-man show yesterday.
Thirty observation posts were to be operating along the border in
Washington state but only one was set up.
And it was deserted.
The two members of the Washington detachment of the Minuteman
Civil Defense Corps who were to man the post deserted it because a
neighbour told them their presence was making them "feel
uncomfortable," said Tom "Skipper" Williams, leader of the
Washington detachment.
"We are having administrative problems with getting our ID cards
printed and our radio relay sites set up," said Williams, holding his dog
Vigilante as he stood on a metre- wide patch of grass separating Zero
Avenue near Aldergrove and Boundary Road in Washington state.
He vowed the observation posts will be manned soon, and said
reinforcements are on the way.
Washington state Democrats have already passed a resolution
condemning the group's plan, saying an unregulated private army
could jeopardize the safety of citizens on both sides of the border.
American 'Minutemen' patrol B.C.-Washington
border
CTV.ca News Staff (Canada)
•
Already operating along the Mexico-Arizona border, the group says it
will target drug dealers, suspected terrorists and illegal immigrants
who try to cross into the U.S. from B.C.
•
"We're not here predominantly to call attention to the Canadian
border," Williams told CTV Vancouver. "We're here predominantly to
call attention to the U.S. border patrol."
•
The U.S. Dept. of Homeland Security has added significant fire-power
to the Northwestern Washington patrol, including helicopters, boats,
and infrared cameras.
And American officials say they have enough money and enough staff
to take care of whatever problems arise along the border.
The National Border Patrol Council in Tucson, Ariz., however, has
endorsed the Minutemen, saying there hasn't been a single complaint
about the group from its 2,000 rank-and-file field agents.
“Transport Canada study says US regs taking toll on
Canadian truckers” 10/03/2005 Today’s Trucking Online
http://www.todaystrucking.com/news.cfm?intDocID=13886
•
A Transport Canada study released last week concludes that the
myriad of U.S. cross-border regulations is costing Canadian for-hire
carriers about $290 million per year and drivers about another $5
million.
•
By analyzing the cost impact of customs and security programs such
as Advanced Electronic Presentation of Cargo Information; CustomsTrade Partnership Against Terrorism (C-TPAT); Free and Secure Trade
(FAST); United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) prior notice
arrival; Transportation of Dangerous Goods; and the upcoming
Automated Commercial Environment (ACE) Program, Transport
Canada estimates the Canadian trucking industry's compliance bill
was anywhere between $179 million to $406 million in 2005. A midrange number would be in the order of $290 million per year. Driver
costs due to the US border security measures are at a minimum $3.4
million/annum to a maximum of $6.8 million/annum.
Cont’d
•
The study also states that Canadian carriers have yet to perceive any
concrete benefits from the U.S. security measures. According to the
report, the major problems associated with cross-border operations
since Sept. 11 include:
– Increased truck delay is the key factor in the cost impact of the U.S.
security measures on Canadian trucking operations.
– A serious lack of FAST approved shippers that are hindering the ability of
Canadian carriers to take advantage of potential benefits from the U.S.
Security regime.
– The U.S. security measures are exacerbating the driver shortage for
transborder traffic.
– On this latter point, the study says that practically all carriers in the survey
were very concerned about the future supply of qualified drivers to serve
the transborder lanes. "There is a general reluctance for many drivers to
cross the border due to the U.S. security measures (e.g., the potential for
fines if noncompliant, delays at the border that cut into driving time). The
long-haul nature of many U.S. routes also has quality of life implications for
many drivers who wish to remain closer to home for family reasons," the
study says.
New security slows Canada's busiest airport
Globe & Mail. 10/04/05
•
Travellers trying to board flights to the United States at Pearson
International Airport are facing lengthy delays because of new security
measures.
•
Long line-ups have formed at the express check-in kiosks at Terminal
2, where U.S.-bound flights are boarded.
•
Under the former system, passengers would simply enter a credit card
or air-miles card at the express check-in kiosk terminals and enter how
many bags they had.
•
Added security measures, however, now require additional data, such
as date of birth, passport number and its country of origin and
passport expiry date.
•
The new measures seem to have caught many travellers at the airport
unaware and have added time to the check-in process. One traveller
estimated the added time to be 30 to 45 minutes.
NY Sen. Hilary Clinton opposes passports
for Canadians (Source: CBC radio 10/4/05)
• The US Department of Homeland Security has for
some time been proposing that everyone entering
the US, including Canadians and Mexicans, show
a valid passport
• Mexicans need a visa to enter the US, but
Canadians do not
• Clinton argues that making Canadians show
passports would be bad for US business and
would not reduce the chances of terrorism