Opinion: Entry fee to U.S. should never fly
Calgary Herald February 18, 2011 7:24 AM Comments (1)
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U.S. President Barack Obama wants to charge Canadians entering the U.S. by air or sea a $5.50 inspection fee.Photograph by: Luke MacGregor, REUTERSA proposed passenger inspection fee of $5.50 to enter the United States is another nickeland-dime tax that will not fly with travel-taxed weary Canadians.
The Obama administration has its head in the clouds if it thinks collecting an extra $90 million from Canada's commercial air and marine travellers is worth the negative consequences such a move will surely have in terms of U.S.-Canadian relations, tourism and trade.
However, the greater consequences will be in Canada, with even more pressure on the Harper government to reduce the exorbitant user fees, taxes and other charges already hobbling Canadian air travel.
The proposed fee, outlined in the draft of the U.S. 2012 federal budget, would technically be used to help pay for enhanced U.S. border security.
It's objectionable for many reasons, not the least of which is it would undermine current talks between Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President Barack Obama, who are hoping to negotiate a North American security and trade perimeter deal.
Part of these talks would likely include negotiating what portion Canada will contribute to U.S. needs for extra border security.
Unilaterally imposing an entry fee on Canadian cargo and travellers violates the spirit of the co-operative process and suggests the Americans think they can double dip from Canadians to help them out of their financial crisis.
Canada has been exempt from the passenger inspection fee since 1997.
Removing it on the heels of requiring that Canadians carry passports to the U.S. eliminates any pretence of special relations between the two countries. Despite our free trade agreement, the U.S. is erecting trade barriers with its attempts at quick cash grabs. This is a world of trade, travel and labour mobility, where borders between countries have all but disappeared, such as in Europe, where there's even a common currency.
All of that aside, another $5.50 on airfares won't stop Canadians from travelling to the U.S. It is simply symptomatic of a much bigger problem for Harper: bloated airfares that have already reached a tipping point.
An increasing number of Canadians are heading south to catch much cheaper flights to their destinations.
For instance, the lowest fare between Toronto and New York City, round trip, on American Airlines two weeks before departure is $400 -$82.50 of which is for various Canadian taxes and fees.
The same fare from Buffalo (a short drive away from Toronto) to New York City, also on an American Airlines flight on the same day, is only $177 US round trip -$21.40 US of which is taxes and fees.
Do the math. The Hotel Association of Canada has. It released a survey this week showing 21 per cent of Canadian travellers drove to a U.S. airport in 2010 to catch a cheaper flight, up from 18 per cent in 2009.
A further 11 per cent of those 1,600 travellers surveyed said they may do so for the first time in 2011.
The entry fee deserves to remain a pie-in-the-sky proposal.
Even if it fails to take flight, though, Harper's still left with the increasing pressure to lower or eliminate Canada's various taxes on air travel that are grounding far too many Canadian travellers and tourists who want to fly from city to city within Canada.
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