Passports? We don't need no stinking passports!

Washington's State Legislature has poked the first hole in the Bush Administration's ongoing efforts to choke America's borders. By approving an enhanced driver's license and obtaining assurances that neighbrouing British Columbia will follow suit, it appears that at least one checkpoint between Canada and the United States may operate at level something close to business as usual.

For those of you scoring at home, there has only been one reported terrorist incident at the B.C. - Washington border, when the Millenium Bomber was captured in Port Angeles. Most border problems have been the result of police chases in Washington ending up at the unarmed (and very quickly unmanned) Canadian checkpoints, or smuggling, which ranges from the petty to building your very own drug tunnel under the border.

Homeland Security's insistence on passports, and the Harper Conservatives' acquiescence of passports, fails to reflect the shared commerce and culture between people in Washington and B.C. Many Point Roberts residents work in Vancouver. Quick Shuttle takes air travellers looking for cheap flights from the Lower Mainland to Sea-Tac airport daily. Seattle Mariners' games are broadcast on local TV and radio stations around B.C. during the summer. This page has spent a few delightful hours over beers with members of the Pacific Northwest Labour History Association who hail from B.C., Washington, and Oregon. Having spent over half a decade in this part of North America, this page feels more at home in Seattle or Portland than I do in Calgary or Edmonton.

The enhanced Driver's License is a step in the right direction. The next step is for Homeland Security to remember why it's the longest undefended border in the world

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