http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Canada/2...793251-cp.html

The stupidity continues at the Canada-US border. This is currently the world's busiest commercial border but the US government seems hellbent on destroying this through sheer ignorance and misguided policies. This latest initiative courtesy of the US Agriculture department boggles the rational mind!! I would bet that the geniuses in the USDA who concocted this hare-brained scheme have never even been to the border and have no conception of commercial logistics.

TORONTO (CP) - A U.S. Department of Agriculture plan to levy new fees on air travellers and commercial shipments from Canada is a nonsensical, self-serving measure that could clog the border and discourage air travel, the Canadian airline and trucking industries warned Friday.

The U.S. government said it intends to tighten agricultural inspections at the Canada-U.S. border in an effort to guard against the perceived threat of pests, disease and even bioterrorism.

As a result, commercial products and air travellers crossing the border will be subject to "user fees" as of Nov. 24.

"It's unnecessary and I think it has more to do with revenue generation than anything else," said Fred Gaspar, spokesman for the Air Transport Association of Canada.

"This is ostensibly to pay for an agricultural inspection program, but it's going to be universally applicable to every passenger and every airline."

Commercial aircraft arriving in the U.S. from Canada will have to pay US$70.25, trucks US$5.25 per crossing or US$105 for the year, loaded rail cars US$7.50 and commercial vessels US$488. Many of the fees will increase slightly in the next fiscal year.

"This cost will be a burden on Canadian shippers, travellers and agriculture producers," said Easter. "The United States' border inspection services are using false pretences. This is pure and simple trade protectionism under the guise of health inspection and clearly breaches the spirit of the North American Free Trade Agreement."

Graham Cooper, senior vice-president of the Canadian Trucking Alliance, said he too was concerned about rules he considers far too broad.

"It would appear that the U.S. Department of Agriculture is intending to apply a user fee on all trucks that cross the border irrespective of whether they are carrying fruits and vegetables or machine parts," Cooper said.

All trucks that cross the border from Canada are required to give U.S. customs advance notice of what they are carrying.

"If a truck is carrying a load of machine parts, hopefully we don't find the U.S. Department of Agriculture opening it up, looking for tomatoes," Cooper said.

Cooper said he isn't convinced that there is a need for increased inspections, and that those measures would almost certainly create problems at the border.

"It doesn't take much before you start jamming it up," he said, which would have negative implications for trucking companies making prompt deliveries.

Gaspar said implications in the air travel industry may be less tangible, but not any less serious.

"We can't quantify exactly what the effect will be, but it's clearly not positive and it clearly will not encourage travel," he said.