EOW May 2007

Transat lant ic Cable

In brief . . . New high-security drivers’ licences issued by the Canadian province of Ontario will include the latest safeguards against tampering and identity theft. The Ontario government will spend between $10 million and $12 million a year for 10 years on the new licences, which are to feature two photographs of the driver and laser- engraved signature. But they will not contain citizenship or other personal information until the US agrees to allow them to be used in lieu of passports at border crossings. Since January, the US has required every air traveller to the country to have a valid passport. The White House wants to extend the same rule to land crossings by January 2008. According to the Toronto Star , Ontario is optimistic that the US will decide to consider the greatly enhanced licence an alternative to a passport. On 10 th March, transportation re- porter Tess Kalinowski wrote that, just the day before, British Columbia’s minister for intergovernmental rela- tions was in Washington, DC ‘trying to persuade US officials of the merits of a scheme to synchronise drivers’ licences in his province and Washington State,’ to ease border crossings for the sake of both Canadians and Americans. ❈ Pact between the EU and the US promises more com- petition and higher capacity on lucrative transatlantic routes On 2 nd March, the European Union and the United States reached a preliminary agreement to eliminate almost all restrictions on air routes between the two areas. Europe’s transport commissioner, Jacques Barrot, announced ‘decisive progress’ in talks with US negotiators in Brussels toward concluding a hard-fought push Open-skies treaty

The rate for blacks, 7.9%, and the rate for whites, 4.0%, each fell by a tenth of a percentage point. In a separate report on 9 th March, the Commerce Department said that the nation’s trade deficit – the difference between what Americans export

and import – narrowed in January, to $59.1 billion from a revised $61.5 billion deficit in December. The change may seem negligible, but every dollar shaved off the stubbornly impacted deficit is greeted with joy in Washington.

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EuroWire – May 2007