Conservatives Earmark $431 Million for Improved Border Safety

WINDSOR, Ont. (CP) – The federal government is investing $431 million over the next five years to reinforce border safety, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day announced Friday in this southwestern Ontario border city.

Speaking at the border crossing between Windsor and Detroit – where one-third of the $1.9 billion in daily trade between the North American neighbours passes – Day said the funding would help keep Canadians safe from security and health threats.

He said the initiative is essential to not only ensure safety, but to keep commerce moving.

“I even sometimes surprise my American friends when I remind them that the trade that comes across the Ambassador Bridge in total is greater than all of the trade that exists between the United States and Japan,” Day told a news conference.

The bulk of the money, $396 million, goes toward the electronic eManifest program, which allows for computer-automated risk assessments of cargo shipments before they reach Canada.

The 18,000 trucks that cross the U.S.-Canada border each day – as well as all railroad, air and marine cargo carriers – will eventually be required to file electronic manifests before their shipments arrive.

This will allow border service agents to determine in advance whether the cargo, or those who deliver it, should be further screened.

“There’s still going to be that human element at the border, to look at material and talk to the driver, but the amount of time that’s going to be saved is going to be significant,” Day said.

The program was developed in co-operation with U.S. Department of Homeland Security and is part of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, launched in 2005 by former prime minister Paul Martin, U.S. President George W. Bush and former Mexican president Vicente Fox.

Day would not give a precise date for when the electronic manifests would become mandatory at the 119 Canada-U.S. border crossings.

Another $24 million has been earmarked for business leaders and emergency responders to plan for the immediate resumption of trade across the border in the event of a terrorist attack, medical pandemic or natural disaster.

Day’s announcement came a day after an American official said robot-controlled surveillance aircraft will start patrolling the border by this fall.