14 June 2005

Increase duty-free limits, Senate report suggests

The following article is excerpted from the 15 June 2005 edition of “globeandmail.com”.

Canadians should be allowed to bring back as much as $2,000 (U.S.) duty free from a single trip to the United States regardless of whether they are there for a week or just a few hours, say recommendations in a report from the Senate defence committee to be released today.

The senators argue that the major increase in personal exemption limits, combined with harmonization with U.S. limits, will allow the Canada Border Services Agency to "better focus on security."…

The report, obtained by The Globe and Mail, calls for harmonization with U.S. levels by 2007, then raising it to $2,000 (U.S.) by 2010.

The senators argue the move would expand upon the benefits of free trade and higher exemptions for Americans shopping in Canada and would further encourage U.S. citizens to take advantage of the lower Canadian dollar.

"De-emphasizing the collection of customs duties and taxes at land border crossings would encourage this [Americans shopping in Canada], while at the same time accomplishing the committee's main goal: to permit border inspectors to increase their focus on security," states the report, titled Borderline Insecure.

The report also calls on Canada to arm its border inspectors if the government is unwilling to provide adequate policing at crossings.

Committee chairman Colin Kenny has been studying the appropriateness of such a move for the past three years and ultimately came to his conclusion after discovering that 139 of Canada's border posts have a single inspector.

"I think the government has an obligation to ensure its employees are safe. We have too many single-employee posts," he said.

The committee also recommends:

That at least half of all shifts be staffed by at least two border agency employees by Dec. 31, 2006;

That the border agency study whether students could earn summer wages and credits toward community college diplomas by pairing with full-time inspectors at land border crossings;

That training programs be improved for border agency staff to focus on questioning techniques and cultural sensitivity;

That Canada require biometric identification of all people entering Canada by 2007;

That there be a new Windsor-Detroit border crossing by 2011….

A Statistics Canada report in February said Canadian consumers were no longer flocking to the United States for cross-border shopping, apparently because of the potential for hassles at the border after the terrorist attacks on the United States on Sept. 11, 2001….