Updated Fri. May. 29 2009 8:38 PM ET
Josh Visser, CTV.ca News Staff
Former U.S. presidents Bill Clinton and George W. Bush both pleaded ignorance at a Toronto event over their country’s new rule that will require Canadians and Americans to have passports to cross the border starting Monday.
The Friday afternoon event, which put Clinton and Bush on stage together for the first time, was “billed” as a conversation and the pair touched on Afghanistan, same-sex marriage and several other hot topic issues.
But when moderator Frank McKenna, the former Canadian ambassador to the U.S., launched into a passionate speech about how Canadians feel about the new passport rules, Bush and Clinton both seemed perplexed.
”Hell of a speech,” Bush joked, before saying. “I’ll be frank with you Frank, I don’t know about the passport issue.”
”I thought we were making good progress on using a driver’s licence to cross the border. What happened to the easy-pass card?”
”I think we should be facilitating driving.”
Clinton also demurred, saying he only heard of the subject a day before. He said most Americans probably didn’t know about the issue.
This could mean fewer Americans coming into Canada, as less than half of Americans have passports, and could be harmful to Canada’s economy, he said.
”I promise you, you have got my attention with this, so I’m going back home (and) I’ll see if there is anything else I can do,” he added.
Original article: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090529/bush_clinton_090529/20090529?hub=TopStories#commentSection
I was actually suprised Bush and Clinton knew nothing about the new requirements at the border as American citizens are faced with the same problem when crossing back into America. These new rules are a result of WHTI (Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative), A US law created from recommendations by Homeland Security and the 9/11 commission. Mr. Bush and his administration were big supportes of the Real ID act and knew very well the changes that were to occur.
I’m not buying the fact that he only learned about this a day ago. People are now worried about delay’s at the border because it will be harder to cross for Wings and beer.. Wings and Beer is the least of our worries! Read the “Smart Border Declaration and Action Plan” as well as Ontario Bill 85 to see what the real issues of this new ID system are.. when your done reading them, go on to check out the ICAO PKI documents and learn how this new ID framework of North America will play a role in a new Global ID system being developed by the UN and private business like CoreStreet LTD.