This used to be a helluva good country.

[Gaia]

The U.S-Canada beyond the border agreement is wide ranging in its impact. Indeed, Prime Minister Harper referred to it wednesday as 'The most significant step forward in Canada-U.S. co-operation since (NAFTA)' This deal promises regulatory alignment (Including the food and automotive sectors) Quicker border crossings for business or travel (With pre-clearance options) And screened once accepted twice cargo. Perhaps the biggest concern for Canadians however are the changes this agreement could have for their privacy...

Gaia

http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/story/2011/12/07/pol-canada-us-border-perimeter.html
http://thechronicleherald.ca/canada/40377-harper-canada-us-border-deal-biggest-nafta

[Flash]

Still giving away more of our power to the US government. US economy is going down the drain and our exports are mainly towards US. We do not need more border crossing but rather a much more diversified exports capacities with other countries in order to remain a bit afloat when US goes down.

It may also mean that the same fema like security measures will be imposed by US to Canada in order to maintain the border opened for commercial purpose.

I still remember very well what happened with the immense number of construction wood that was crossing into US for which we were paying very heavy tarifs to the US even if in the Free trade agreement (NAFTA) lumber wood was supposed to be free from US taxes. US did not want to have their own wood sold at a disadavantage price (American citizens have been paying more for their wood than they would have otherwise if they could have bought Canadian lumber wood at its real selling price).

We went to international court many times, we won in court many times, yet, all the monies in Billions of dollars that were collected from Canadian lumber wood and therefore from Canadian as a whole were never returned.

Same with our pharmacy products deemed dangerous (let me laugh) in the US.

Agreement with US is always to serve US pretty much unilaterally. Our Canadian govermments sold us to US long ago. Imho.

[Mark]

One of the most talked about aspects of the agreement is the joint entry-exit system at the land border. Officials plan to share biographical information on citizens, permanent residents and others when they enter one country and thereby exit the other. The pilot project is set to start by Sept. 30, 2012, at anywhere between two to four border crossings. The full program is to be in place by June 30, 2014.

Just wonderful. For those of us who cross that border all the time this can be either a positive or a negative I guess.