Border talks leads to further progress, says Brown

May 22, 2007

Brockville - Gord Brown, Member of Parliament for Leeds-Grenville, says further progress was made on border issues at the 48th annual meeting of the Canada-United States Inter-Parliamentary Group held in Windsor-Detroit at the weekend.

The meeting brought together 30 members of parliament, senators from Canada, congressmen and US senators as well as the two ambassadors.

"There were a number of key resolutions approved that will help keep Canada and the United States focused on priority issues at the border," Brown explains.

For example, the working group in which he participated passed a resolution that urges both countries to find a way to resolve the outstanding issues surrounding pre-clearance at our borders.

"Talks have stalled on proposals that would enhance pre-clearance," explains Brown. "Resolving this issue is worth millions of dollars to the economies of both countries and could result in the 1000 Islands crossing becoming more important for manufactured goods."

Other resolutions adopted by Brown's working group included working toward slowing down the implementation of the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, the need for another crossing at Windsor-Detroit and further support of the renewal of the Great-Lakes.

Participants also adopted resolutions on issues such as intellectual property theft, beef and cattle trade, NATO and the environment.

Resolutions from these meetings are forwarded to both governments for action.