Day proposes national ID card
xerxes @ Fri Feb 17, 2006 4:49 pm
$1:
Day proposes national ID card
Canadian Press
Ottawa — Sooner or later, Canadians will have to carry some form of identification other than a passport to travel outside the country, says the new federal minister of public safety.
The British Commons has just adopted legislation for a government-issued national ID card and Stockwell Day suggested in an interview with The Canadian Press that such a card is inevitable for Canada.
"At this point, I don't know what it should be called, to tell you the truth," Mr. Day said.
"I don't know if we'll call it that, but we want good, law-abiding people to have smooth and quick access at all border points — not just North American, but international."
New life is being breathed into the proposal now that the United States has dropped its demand that Canadians be required to show passports to cross the border.
"We also want to be able to stop people who are a menace or a threat from getting in or getting out, so that's the overall goal," Mr. Day said.
Mr. Day said the need for identification of some sort came up again this week when he spoke on the phone with his U.S. counterpart, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Cherkoff.
"I think it's fair to say that in both Canada and the U.S. we do want some kind of enhanced security provision," he said.
"Whether that's some kind of a biometric approach, an enhancement on a driver's licence — all of that needs to be explored, so we do want to see enhanced technological capacity in that area."
The idea of a national ID card was raised in the months following the Sept.11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States but proposals go back even further, as a way of replacing the abused social insurance number.
The SIN was meant only for federal government documents but evolved over the years for such uses as ID for cheque-writing. Today, there are more SINs than people as government lost control over them.
Former Liberal Immigration minister Denis Coderre has always supported a card to identify Canadians, over and above the passport.
He says a plastic card could be made to contain biometric and data information that a paper passport could not.
His proposal in 2003 — which some estimates put as high as $5 billion to implement — did not get a good reception by a Commons committee looking at the idea.
Critics at the time recalled how the Liberal gun registry started out with a price tag of only $2- million and ended up costing hundreds of millions more and said the ID card was a boondoggle-in-waiting.
Mr. Coderre said this week that it's only a matter of time before other countries follow Britain and that Canada should act to ensure control over data.
" We have to have a real debate on this . . . we cannot bury our head in the sand anymore," Coderre said. "Something is going on worldwide and we have to have that debate.
"Three years ago we were in the avant-garde, but right now we're trailing."
Canadian Press
Ottawa — Sooner or later, Canadians will have to carry some form of identification other than a passport to travel outside the country, says the new federal minister of public safety.
The British Commons has just adopted legislation for a government-issued national ID card and Stockwell Day suggested in an interview with The Canadian Press that such a card is inevitable for Canada.
"At this point, I don't know what it should be called, to tell you the truth," Mr. Day said.
"I don't know if we'll call it that, but we want good, law-abiding people to have smooth and quick access at all border points — not just North American, but international."
New life is being breathed into the proposal now that the United States has dropped its demand that Canadians be required to show passports to cross the border.
"We also want to be able to stop people who are a menace or a threat from getting in or getting out, so that's the overall goal," Mr. Day said.
Mr. Day said the need for identification of some sort came up again this week when he spoke on the phone with his U.S. counterpart, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Cherkoff.
"I think it's fair to say that in both Canada and the U.S. we do want some kind of enhanced security provision," he said.
"Whether that's some kind of a biometric approach, an enhancement on a driver's licence — all of that needs to be explored, so we do want to see enhanced technological capacity in that area."
The idea of a national ID card was raised in the months following the Sept.11, 2001, terror attacks on the United States but proposals go back even further, as a way of replacing the abused social insurance number.
The SIN was meant only for federal government documents but evolved over the years for such uses as ID for cheque-writing. Today, there are more SINs than people as government lost control over them.
Former Liberal Immigration minister Denis Coderre has always supported a card to identify Canadians, over and above the passport.
He says a plastic card could be made to contain biometric and data information that a paper passport could not.
His proposal in 2003 — which some estimates put as high as $5 billion to implement — did not get a good reception by a Commons committee looking at the idea.
Critics at the time recalled how the Liberal gun registry started out with a price tag of only $2- million and ended up costing hundreds of millions more and said the ID card was a boondoggle-in-waiting.
Mr. Coderre said this week that it's only a matter of time before other countries follow Britain and that Canada should act to ensure control over data.
" We have to have a real debate on this . . . we cannot bury our head in the sand anymore," Coderre said. "Something is going on worldwide and we have to have that debate.
"Three years ago we were in the avant-garde, but right now we're trailing."
Let me get this straight: The gun registry, a large governemnt infringement of privacy right, is bad while the national ID card, which would be a larger infringement and costly government program, is "inevitable"?
hamiltonguyo @ Fri Feb 17, 2006 4:54 pm
makes sense...if you can't drive than its almost impossible to carry around appropriate ID
and besides its more convenient for me to show an ID card crossing into the US than a passport...Our School band is going on a trip there and I have to pay smething like 50 dollars extra cause I need a new passport.
Should it be madatory? no?
should it be an option for citizens? yes
RUEZ @ Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:06 pm
xerxes xerxes:
Let me get this straight: The gun registry, a large governemnt infringement of privacy right, is bad while the national ID card, which would be a larger infringement and costly government program, is "inevitable"?
What's the problem? He's putting it out there for debate, seems some liberals have proposed it also.
xerxes @ Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:08 pm
I didn't say anything about the proposal, just that it was ironic considering who was proposing it.
DerbyX @ Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:19 pm
Ontario used to have something called the "Age of Majority" card which was suppossed to be a card intended to give non-drivers a solid ID that was hard to fake. They ditched it many years ago as costly and infrequently used. A national ID card would be more of the same and seeing as how we all have a health card and/or drivers license it seems like just the sort of useless gov't expense everybody hates.
RUEZ @ Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:22 pm
The problem was the gun registry didn't do anything. It was simply a means of taking money from gun owners and putting there names on a list for no reason whatsoever. It certainly didn't make anyone safer. An ID card on the other hand would probably help you travel to at least the US and other countries once they accept it.
hamiltonguyo @ Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:22 pm
what about the people who cross the border alot?
RUEZ @ Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:26 pm
hamiltonguyo hamiltonguyo:
what about the people who cross the border alot?
I think what this boils down to is that the US is going to demand some form of ID to enter thier country it's inevitable.
hamiltonguyo @ Fri Feb 17, 2006 5:54 pm
exactly
these cards would make it easier for frequent crossers...
it would only concern me if everyone was forced to get one
BurytheNDPforgood @ Fri Feb 17, 2006 7:50 pm
hamiltonguyo hamiltonguyo:
what about the people who cross the border alot?
That would be me, and I think it's a great idea.
bootlegga @ Fri Feb 17, 2006 8:33 pm
xerxes xerxes:
Let me get this straight: The gun registry, a large governemnt infringement of privacy right, is bad while the national ID card, which would be a larger infringement and costly government program, is "inevitable"?
Typical Cons...why piss away 2 billion registering dangerous weapons like firearms when we can piss away 20 billion registering our citizens? Holy fucking 1984!
Tricks @ Fri Feb 17, 2006 8:35 pm
god I hope this doesn't pass. This is really fucking stupid. If you are gonna get rid of useless government spending, don't go spend it on something stupid. Gah, politicians, they are all the same
OnTheIce @ Fri Feb 17, 2006 8:38 pm
Avro Avro:
Con logic...... 
Funny how you ignored the line about who first came up with the idea
Typical Liberal
Poisson @ Fri Feb 17, 2006 11:05 pm
hamiltonguyo hamiltonguyo:
and besides its more convenient for me to show an ID card crossing into the US than a passport...Our School band is going on a trip there and I have to pay smething like 50 dollars extra cause I need a new passport.
You don't need to cross the border with a passport...at least till end of 2006 for air crossing and end of 2007 for land crossings if no form of ID agreed for both sides is created.
You'll be find as long you have a photo ID (like your school's or your health card) and proof of citizenship, like your birth cerficate to get across.