NORTH AMERICAN DRIVERS’ LICENSE IN LIEU OF PASSPORT --- RUNCIMAN
Toronto. Former Ontario Public Security Minister, Bob Runciman (MPP Leeds-Grenville) is calling on the Canadian and U.S. federal governments to develop a standardized North American drivers’ licence as an alternative to passports for cross-border travel between the two countries.
The U.S. government, through the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, will require passports for entry from Canada into the U.S. beginning in 2008. Border states, along with Canadian provinces, have decried the move believing it will dramatically reduce cross-border travel between the two countries.
“Less than 40% of U.S. citizens hold passports and that’s not likely to change” asserted Runciman. “However, virtually everyone wants, needs or has a driver’s licence and if one of our primary goals is to have as many people as possible in possession of documentation that insures security needs are met while encouraging or, at the very least, not discouraging, cross-border travel, this could be the way to go.”
Runciman will table a resolution when the legislature re-opens later this month that urges adoption of a licence that would incorporate both citizenship and a biometric identifier and could be utilized, in lieu of a passport, for cross-border travel by residents of the states and provinces that adopt its usage.
