Friday, June 20, 2008

BLOGbreaking News: McCain Gets It, When Will Harper

The Globe and Mail and CBC both posted Senator McCain's speech!

Here is the part that interested me:

  • "The two-way trade that crosses the Ambassador Bridge between Detroit and Windsor equals all American exports to Japan. That transit, and all our crossing points, must remain secure. In extending our security partnership, we can ensure continued flows of people and commerce while maintaining security on which these very flows depend. We need to do an even better job of managing the regular traffic across our border...

    Already, we cooperate in preparing for emergencies...We exchange public health officers...

    Complying with NAFTA's rules of origin can be cumbersome and costly. Border delays can pose a serious impediment to trade, the equivalent of a tariff...If I am elected president, have no doubt that America will honor its international commitments-- and we will expect the same of others. We will strengthen and extend the open and rules-based international trading system."

Obviously the McCain campaign was well aware of Detroit/Windsor given the reference to the Ambassador Bridge that was NOT specifically named in the Free Press article and the mention of public health officers (Remember the ambulance situation and nurses working in the US). The key line and the key word in the speech for this region are:

  • "We need to do an even better job of managing the regular traffic across our border."
Managing the border, not adding capacity at a cost of billions that does nothing to get "regular" vehicles through more quickly as Canada wants to do.

Border delays he understood are a concern but again there was no reference to adding capacity as a solution! The delays were in the context of "impediments" caused by NAFTA's rules of origin.

When will our Government finally learn what the Senator already knows.

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