Rekindling Norad

31. December 2008 by admin.

In today’s Windsor Star, there is a very interesting opinion titled, “The Border: Rekindling the Spirit of Norad.”  I find it very appropriate to close out the year 2008.  It’s time to look forward — with the financial collapse earlier in the year and auto sector melt-down, and of course the ever worsening border problems, it’s time to find a viable solution.  (http://www.windsorstar.com/opinion/border/1129685/story.html)

The time has come for Prime Minister Harper and President-Elect Obama to sit down and resolve the border issues.  Since 9-11 the US Department of Homeland Security, Customs and Immigration have not been able to solve the border issues.  In fact, it is estimated that $9.3 billion a year is lost by US and Canadian trucking industries.  $9.3 BILLION! 

Former Canadian ambassador to the US Michael Kergin and the Canadian International Counsel (CIC) are urging our leaders to re-invent what President Franklin Roosevelt and PM William Lyon Mackenzie King did some 60 years ago with Norad.  The time is right to develop a Permanent Joint Border Commission that would be the equivalent of Norad.  Perhaps in these difficult economic times on both sides of the border, a border solution is blooming.  Kergin’s report can be found at: http://www.igloo.org/canadianinternational/download/research/workinggro/borderissu/cicborders

This morning as I was listening to NPR and hearing about how blogs might be the next generation of grassroots campaigning for social change, I thought how important this particular issue is not only to me since I cross the border daily but for the folks of Windsor and Essex County and the Detroit Metropolitan area.  This border is problematic for both sides.  In fact, it extends well beyond Ontario and Michigan and other states and provinces on the border.  It effects everyone in both Canada and the US by disrupting trade and commerce.  In a major global economic slow down, we need to look at ways of improving and streamlining our process.  Having a “Norad” approach, a joint border commission would be an excellent start. 

So maybe 2009, we’ll see this blog develop into a grassroots organization of promoting border issues and more important solutions!

I wish you all a safe and Happy New Year!  I look forward to the challenges of the New Year! 

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