Mr. Speaker, my petition calls on the Canadian government to negotiate with the U.S. government to reduce U.S. and Canadian passport fees.
Passport fees for Canadians on fixed incomes and multiple member families are a significant barrier to the traditional cross-border family vacations and our tourism industry is suffering as well. The number of American tourists visiting Canada is at its lowest level since 1972 and has fallen by 5 million in the last seven years, from 16 million in 2002 to only 11 million in 2009.
At this summer's Midwestern legislative conference of the Council of State Governments, attended by representatives from 11 border states and 3 provinces, a resolution was passed unanimously, that reads, be it:
RESOLVED, that the...Conference of The Council of State Governments calls on President Barack Obama and [the] Prime Minister...to immediately examine a reduced fee for passports to facilitate cross-border tourism;--
...we encourage the governments to examine the idea of a limited time two-for-one passport renewal or a new application; and be it further
RESOLVED, that this resolution be submitted to appropriate federal, state and provincial officials.
To be a fair process, passport fees must be reduced on both sides of the border.
Therefore, the petitioners call on the government to: (a) work with the American government to examine a mutual reduction in passport fees to facilitate tourism; and (b) promote a limited time two-for-one passport renewal or new application fee on a mutual basis with the United States.