New US border requirements cause a rush for Canadian Passports

Welcome to the first column of the new year. In it, I want to share with you what I’ve been doing around the riding and in Ottawa.

Recently, my staff and I have been busy holding Passport Clinics in Haliburton, Sunderland, Lindsay and Buckhorn. Turnout was great – I estimate that in just 4 days we helped more than 1,000 people apply for a passport!

As you may have heard, everybody entering the United States by air or sea must now have a valid passport. This change is part of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative passed by the American government, and applies to everyone including Americans and Canadians.

And this has led to a mad rush to get passports. As a result, it is now taking up to 8 weeks to get a passport through my office or the mail, and up to 4 weeks for those who travel to the Passport Canada office in Whitby.

Not surprisingly, there are long lines at Passport Canada offices across the country. As such, I advise people who don’t need a passport right away to wait until things return to normal in a few weeks.

I also want to remind people that passports are not required for those entering the United States by land – yet. This may change in 2008, but for now you can still drive across the border with a Birth Certificate (or other proof of Canadian citizenship) and photo ID.

Another activity that I enjoy while home is visiting schools. In the past few weeks, I had the opportunity to speak to students at Brock Township Secondary School in Cannington, Scott Young Elementary School in Omemee and I.E. Weldon Secondary School in Lindsay.

As you might expect, one of the subjects that students often raise is the environment. It’s clear that young people are interested in this global issue, and what we can do in Canada to preserve the future of our planet.

Students are also very interested in the workings of Canada’s Parliament, and how it might be improved with Senate reform, or by adopting proportional representation. As this is a favourite subject of mine, I always enjoy sharing information and my views.