I got up early today to come back to St. Stephen, New Brunswick for the grand opening of the new border crossing station there. I was here in November for the opening of the new facility on the other side of the bridge in Calais, Maine. This is the busiest border crossing point between New England and Atlantic Canada. Some things are worth doing. Some things are worth doing twice.
Travel to and from the United States has received a lot of attention lately. As you know, on Christmas Day, a terrorist tried to blow up an airplane with almost 300 people on board.
President Obama has been upfront that there was a systemic failure on our part. He has directed a number of immediate actions for our intelligence services and to improve aviation screening and security. But as the President has said, even the best intelligence can’t identify in advance every individual who would do us harm. It’s going to take partnerships, between nations, between law enforcement agencies, and even between travelers and the security forces in order to achieve the proper balance between security and efficiency.
That attempted attack has rekindled that debate and I thought about it as I again visited this new state-of-the-art facility.
If we are smart – If we are efficient – If we invest in infrastructure and technology – we can have more security and more efficiency.
Canada and the United States have made, and will continue to make, huge investments in our border infrastructure, much of which dates back to before World War II. But a lot has changed since then. Much of the old infrastructure is inadequate for today’s needs. Calais and St. Stephen – with these twin state-of-the-art facilities – should be the model. The model for a border system that allows the legitimate transit of people and goods while insuring the safety of the people from both of our countries.
And we should make those state–of-the-art facilities green like Calais-St. Stephen.
I have visited a number of border crossings as I have traveled across Canada. I have met with folks from the United States CBP and the Canadian CBSA and stood next to them as they did their jobs.
I have never failed to be impressed by their effort, by their dedication, by their professionalism. Often under difficult circumstances.
Congratulations everyone involved on the opening of this great new facility.
DJ