Cascadia Report

Reopening the Cascadia border

Fear of COVID-19 closed the border to non-essential travel a full year ago. Now that more Cascadia residents are getting vaccinations, when will they be able to start crossing again? 

"The truth is: There is no plan," according to a recent CBC report on efforts to at least prepare for reopening.

Until the pandemic, the Canadian and U.S. parts of Cascadia were growing relentlessly more integrated, despite a two-decade struggle with border security in the wake of 9/11. For frequent travelers, the border was often seen as a mere formality.

By 2019 about 14 million people crossed and all the talk was about continued growth. That year saw the long-awaited start of seaplane flights between Lake Union and Coal Harbor. The main complaints were about too many users for the crowded water in Seattle. Harbor Air got slews of international headlines for pioneering fully-electric floatplanes.

Then the border closure halted flights, stopped the Victoria Clipper and Coho ferries, and slammed the border economies. Whatcom County lost 506,000 tourists in just a few months, according to a report by Western Washington University. There are similar stories from Whistler, Victoria, and elsewhere, even amid recent talk of B.C. sealing itself off from other provinces.

Despite criticism of how the closure has been handled to date, the assumption of huge pent-up demand for travel is widespread. Cascadia is bound to get more closely connected, with studies calling for high-speed rail between Seattle and Vancouver, along with plans to make conventional trains more competitive with driving or flying.

Back in 2007 Cascadia Report fretted about the impact of a closed border during the Olympics. That seems quaint by comparison.

Could the border start reopening as soon as May? That assumes vaccinations, flatter curves, and management of new strains. Plan on requirements for tests, vaccine documentation, and other red tape.

Longer delays at the border

There are reports that delays to cross the Canada-U.S. border are longer than ever, jeopardizing trade and tourism.

It's unclear if the waits are due to wise security measures, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff's "gut feeling" that a terrorist attack is on the way, or just bureaucracy. (Traffic is likely to back up on I-5 for the next two years thanks to construction at the Peace Arch.)

It would be nice to streamline the border-control procedures, not just postpone imposition of prohibitive rules -- especially before Olympics crowds arrive.

An 'Olympic push' to ease border strain

The New York Times weighed in today on proposals to ease the security bottleneck at the U.S.-Canada border well in advance of the 2010 Olympics:

Canadian officials say they worry that some United States citizens will decide against visiting Canada out of concern that getting back into their country could be difficult. And officials in Washington State worry that visitors to the Olympics might decide not to extend their visit into Washington.

The article mentions the Washington plan to offer enhanced drivers licenses as a security measure instead of requiring passports. It says that officials in North Dakota, Michigan and New York support the initiative.

What else will it take?

Support building for smarter border security

Support may be building for a delay in implementing new passport requirements to cross between Canada and the U.S.

This is a welcome change from rushing to impose draconian rules that would stifle the economy without guaranteeing more security. Cross-border ties are too important to blindly accept new rules, despite the suggestion of the U.S. consul in Vancouver that the region should essentially get used to an inconvenient new era.

Key legislators, Gov. Gregoire and Premier Campbell have all proposed relying on higher security driver's licenses rather than requiring passports. They've pointed out that having passports didn't prevent the Sept. 11 attacks and wouldn't necessarily make a difference now.

One company's tale of trade and border barriers

The latest issue of Inc. magazine has a fascinating case study of a Vancouver-based company being hindered by Cascadia ports and borders. It shows the hardships of small firms that make up so much of the area's economy. (No online link yet.)

Snowboard apparel maker Westbeach was a niche player but managed to survive until the 2005 strike by Vancouver dock workers delayed shipments and led customers to cancel orders. After a trip through bankruptcy, the company is under new ownership and focusing on the Canada market, despite being just miles from the U.S.

"On paper, you would think that a Vancouver-based company would look at the U.S. and say that's a no-brainer because it's just across the border," he says. "But it could just as well be a million miles away."

So this is what took so long at the border

Thousands of Americans returning from a Thanksgiving weekend in British Columbia clogged the border for hours on Sunday. It may be an indication of costly bottlenecks with the 2010 Olympics.

My snow-covered Subaru reached the south-bound crossing at 6:30 p.m. -- after nearly two hours in line -- with me still in long underwear, fleece and post-snowshoeing hat hair. I identified myself as a journalist who had spent two nights at Whistler and handed the agent my American passport. Our conversation included this:

Agent: Do you have anything to declare?

Me: No. I didn't do any shopping.

Agent: I didn't ask that. Did anyone give you anything?

Me: No

Agent (seeing the Granny Smith apple sitting on the passenger seat): What about that apple?

Me: I bought it at the store to eat on the way.

Agent: That's a $500 fine. It's illegal to bring in fruits or vegetables without filling out a customs form. It's on the sign out there, unless it's covered with snow.

Me: Oh. I didn't know that. It had a "Grown in Washington" sticker on it.

Agent: Is there a sticker on it?

Me: No, I peeled it off.

Agent: Let me see the apple. (pause) I'm confiscating it. If there's no sticker it could have come from anywhere.

The interview took just a few minutes but left a bad taste. If every car was questioned like this, no wonder the border delays mounted -- to four hours by early Sunday evening, according to local radio. This kind of hair-splitting about obscure rules, not to mention new passport requirements, will make crossing the border more difficult and certainly turn off casual visitors.

In order to not waste the economic opportunity from the 2010 games, it's critical that Washington and B.C. convince their federal governments to fund better infrastructure at the border and use much clearer standards for screening travelers.