TORONTO — The Ontario government introduced legislation to join the ranks of provinces offering an alernative to passports at the border.

The Photo Card Act, if passed, will allow Ontarians to use an enhanced driver’s licence as an alternative to a passport when crossing Canada-U.S. borders by land and sea. Starting June 1, 2009, the U.S. government will require all visitors to prove their citizenship at the border.

An enhanced driver’s licence would include the same security features introduced by the government in December 2007 to protect against fraud, misuse and identity theft, while also giving Ontarians the option of adding Canadian citizenship information.

With more than 92,000 cars and over 22,300 trucks carrying almost $650 million in goods crossing the Ontario-U.S. borders daily, the new card will ensure that those without a passport can cross the border using the enhanced card.