Smart Border program within reach

Canada’s Deputy Prime Minister John Manley said he expects the 30-point Smart Border program to be ready before the G8 summit, to be held in June in Alberta.

Manley said that Canada and the U.S. are close to agreement on some of the more controversial portions of the plan, which was put together after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

He said that there were no more “red light” issues, and that everything was either on schedule or ahead of schedule, according to Southam News.

A Canadian plan for companies that regularly truck cargo across the border to be “pre-cleared” and American concerns about whether their customs officers could carry guns while stationed in Canada have been the two main points of contention between the two countries.

U.S. Customs Commissioner Robert Bonner had previously described the Canadian self-assessment program, which could permit 7,000 trucks a day to cross the border without inspection, as “an invitation to terrorists.”