Fake Ontario Licences Alarm U.S.

"If the U.S. proceeds to make it mandatory that Canadians produce a passport at the border, or that Americans have to produce a passport at the border, that is going to hurt our economy and it's going to hurt their economy," he said. But Joanna Gonzalez, a spokesperson for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security in Washington, said the fact that thousands of lost or stolen documents are circulating in Ontario will only bolster calls for tighter border security. That's one reason Washington is pushing a new law that would require travellers to and from Canada, Mexico, Bermuda, the Caribbean and Panama to have a passport "or other secure, accepted document" to enter the U.S. after Jan. 1, 2008, she said. McGuinty, who will meet next week with the Great Lakes Governors Council in Milwaukee, said he has discussed the passport issue with New York's George Pataki. "Governor Pataki is very sensitive to this issue and we've talked about working together so that we might ensure that we have an alternate secure document like a driver's licence," he said. "(New York has) moved to a licence with some kind of holographic detail, which is more secure, and he's encouraging us to take a look at that," McGuinty said. http://www.thestar.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=thestar/Layout/Article_PrintFriendly&c=Article&cid=1133995815625&call_pageid=968332188774

Note: http://www.thestar.com/...