OTTAWA — Remember back in February when Canada and the U.S. announced an initiative to reduce red tape at the border and improve security?

With that deal weeks away from being signed, the Rideau Institute, a non-profit organization that conducts research with a focus on U.S-Canada policies, released a report titled Shared Vision or Myopia: The Politics of Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness, that has kicked up issues around the privacy of Canadians.

The report, written by Gar Pardy, who worked on Canada–United States relations, and spent four years as a Canadian liaison with the CIA, doesn’t hold back on its critique of the "Beyond the Border" initiative.

Pardy was reported as saying that Canada was selling its sovereignty, and that there was no guarantee that the initiative would, in fact, reduce red tape.

"We’ve got a desperate attempt by the Canadian government to try to do something by selling basically the privacy rights of Canadians to the Americans, in order to get changes on the border," Pardy said.

"If it’s a border issue, keep it as a border issue," added Steve Staples, president of the Rideau Institute, "don’t get into these grand deals where we think we’re going to share databases and entry and exit records in the hope our trucks are going to get over
the border faster," The Windsor Star reported. windsorstar.com/Border+deal+hurts+privacy+Report/5410977/story.html

You can read the full report here.