THUNDER BAY, ON, March 23, 2008 ~ The 911 terrorism scare is hampering economic growth in the Great Lakes region and should be a front-burner issue by both Canada and the United States.

The Brookings Institution, a policy research organization based in Washington, D.C.
 urges the United States of America and Canada to develop a "border of the future," using advanced technology to quicken the movement of people, goods and services without sacrificing needed security measures. They also should upgrade border-area infrastructure such as bridges, rail lines and port.

The report argues that a broad swath of territory – reaching from upstate New York to Minnesota, and across the southern tier of Quebec and Ontario – is a single economic region linked by the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River system. To read the read the full report in PDF.

A story in the Duluth News-Tribune by Peter Passi, back in February 2008, stated "Travel Dynamics, based in New York City, announced the Clelia II is destined to make 14 voyages between Duluth and Toronto during the summer and early fall of 2009. The cruise will be sold as a seven-day, one-way service.

Adolph Ojard, executive director of the Duluth Seaway Port Authority stated in the story, "he wanted avoid any repeat of problems the MV Columbus encountered in September, 2007. That German cruise ship had planned to deliver its passengers to a final destination in Chicago as part of a Great Lakes tour, but Homeland Security officials rejected the itinerary, saying the city lacked a marine terminal with appropriate security and screening facilities to receive foreign travelers. Efforts to reroute the vessel to Milwaukee or Duluth met with the same objection.

The Columbus' agent, InterShip Inc., was informed that only a registered US-VISIT facility -- complete with baggage screening equipment, biometric controls and a host of other security features -- could receive the ship. But not one terminal on the Great Lakes qualifies as a US-VISIT facility.

Ultimately, passengers aboard the Columbus were forced to load into lifeboats bound for Canada while their vessel was anchored in the St. Marys River. The cruiseline operator, Hapag-Lloyd, then chartered a bus to pick up the passengers and drive them to an established border crossing, where travelers could clear customs before resuming their trip to Chicago.

"It was nuts," Ojard said. "They lost an entire day just to clear customs, and people could have been seriously hurt using lifeboats. It was not well-thought-out. But no one would make any accommodations."  To read the full Duluth News-Tribune from Hotel on Line