Obama proposes fee for Canadian visitors to the U.S. in draft budget

President Barack Obama is floating the idea of charging a fee for every Canadian entering the U.S. by air or sea.

The proposal is outlined in the 2012 federal draft budget he submitted to Congress on Monday.

The $5.50 fee would not apply to visitors arriving in private vehicles.

Visitors from Canada, Mexico and a number of Caribbean countries are currently exempt from “passenger inspection fees.”

Obama’s budget blueprint proposes lifting those exemptions and using the revenue from the charges to support air passenger inspections which have recently grown more intensive.

The proposed fee comes just a week after Prime Minister Stephen Harper and Obama agreed to a deal that would establish a North American security and trade perimeter.

According to Statistics Canada some 16 million Canadians flew into the U.S. in 2009.

 

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