| fenpxsli |
| Pfeifenkopp |
 |
 |
| 205 Posts |
| registered: 26.10.2013 |
|
remember Forest City
The morning of Sept. 12, 2001, I drove from Fredericton, New Brunswick, to Houlton, Maine. border,canada goose outlet, first agreed to in 1783. There are other crossings between Maine and New Brunswick than every other stateprovince pairing, which talks to connections between communities that existed long before the road was drawn.
I had been in Houlton to interview New Brunswickers who crossed the border every day, particularly Canadian nurses who commuted for betterpaying positions in the local hospital. Everybody was apprehensive concerning the looming security crackdown.
It had been a senior patient, George Solesky, who proved most prescient. "I don't want it to affect us," he explained. "Usually this is exactly what happens. We obtain inconvenienced due to the crooked people. I am talking about, how come we always inconvenienced to resolve these complaints? And it still doesn't solve the issue."
In the years to come, america government imposed unprecedented restrictions at the border. Probably the most visible was a passport requirement, even for local residents that Customs officers had known all of their lives. No one disputed that America had the authority to protect itself. But Washington seemed not capable of knowning that there were ties here that didn't deserve, or need, to be broken.
For decades, Nickolaj and Marion Pedersen, a Canadian couple whose driveway led to an American road running along the border, enjoyed a peaceful life. Starting in 2003, postal workers, newspaper deliverers, plumbers, relatives as well as their person in Parliament were harassed, detained and prevented from reaching their property. Informal understandings about the border were a thing of the past.
Now Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama are negotiating a perimeter agreement designed to increase security around The united states while easing restrictions in the border. However the impetus seems to be financial. The rhetoric is all about keeping commerce between the two countries moving.
There's a certain logic for this. Even in a wired world, geography matters.
220 years ago, there was a vibrant smuggling trade on Passamaquoddy Bay an early version of a freetrade zone. New Brunswick's Confederation debate was hijacked by the push by businessmen for any railway link to Maine. For the reason that push, we have seen a precursor of the Harper government's "Atlantic Gateway" initiative, targeted at improving road and shipping links to Colonial.
Even former New Brunswick premier Shawn Graham's controversial start to sell the province's power utility to HydroQuebec was about the border: Quebec wanted New Brunswick's transmission grid link with Maine, which may have given it a lock on electricity exports to Colonial.
But trade, though vital, is only one area of the story. Border people want to maintain their crossborder connections to friends without overwhelming, governmentimposed safety measures.
In 2010, within the tiny community of Forest City, Maine, residents chose to push back from the nationalsecurity state. Bureaucrats in Washington decided Forest City, population 15, where about six cars per day cross the tiny bridge over the St. Croix River,canada goose, needed a $15 million border station, complete with a fourlane approach road and inspection bays for transport trucks. All that was required was the expropriation of one resident's yard.
The folks of Forest City understood the requirement for border security, but they weren't prepared to give Washington a blank check.
They lobbied their congressmen. They forced bureaucrats in the future begin to see the community on their own. Fox News framed the storyline less a nationalsecurity issue, but as a case of rampant, biggovernment spending. Washington surrendered, and this spring officials returned having a scaledback proposal for a modest new border station at onethird the cost with no expropriation required.
In a single corner of Fortress America, a measure of sanity had returned to the border debate.
Mr. Harper and Mr. Obama would do well to remember Forest City. If their treaty speeds commerce but fails to address the difficulties of ordinary citizens living across the border the individuals who maintain our special relationship every single day it will be, at best, a halfsolution.
Jacques Poitras is a political reporter in Fredericton, New Brunswick.
Reality show featuring Maine family to be filmed in Bangor starting FridayAffidavit: Eddington woman watched two men shot, begged for her lifeActress who played Eric Forman's sister, Laurie, on 'That '70s Show,' dies at 43Aroostook County man suing Family Dollar over firing, unpaid overtimeOfficials: Calais man who shot woman, her infant son died from selfinflicted wound
Getting LePage, Dems on track for rational bonds debateFriday, August 16,www.teamrahim.ca/2013/10/pjs-parajumpers-jassen/, 2013: Salmon, small business growth and the dangers of pornographyFirst Wind prepared to trash MainePrivatizing Congress Square Park: A poor tripLost in Egypt
Pearl City, Hawaii, eliminates Bangor from Senior League World SeriesReturning soldiers, Maine football players bond during practice sessionFormer Bonny Eagle High School wrestling standout not retiring,www.newcastlesc.ca/?paged=3, set for UFC fight in BostonSports car racers to test skills on autocross course at LoringMargaret Veazie returning as cocoach of Dexter field hockey team
PINE TREE POLITICS
Come back to Maine, they keep sayingMOODY ON ECONOMICS
FreeME: A plan to phase out Maine income taxACT By helping cover their AISLINN
My dog and the mystery garden vandalFIA MAINE KITCHEN
From the brambles to the kitchen: 3 tasty blackberry recipesMAINE MATTERS
Reality show featuring Maine family to become filmed in Bangor starting FridayAroostook boy lives on through benefit ride, hikeCircus college visiting Portland as part of Thompson Point developmentSalt Water Farm Cafe offers farmtotable dining in restaurantstarved downtown RockportFrom the brambles to the kitchen: 3 tasty blackberry recipes
|
