A lot of people here in Canada have lately not viewed the UK favorably on many of the issues we discussed here. However, I wanted to post an article that recently went up the Independent’s website about some UK politicans complaining about the US trying it impose its infamous no-fly list on British Airways flights between the UK and Canada including flights from London to Calgary and Edmonton that don’t even touch or get near US airspace. The US is also insisting on seeing all the passenger details of UK flights to the Carribean and Cuba. I am somewhat familiar with past issues regarding Canada and the no-fly list so I welcome any comments.
This is utter nonesense and it is long past time when the U.S. was told to forget about monitoring affairs that don’t directly concern it. When will the nations of the world stop cooperating with this self obsessed and paranoid society?
Why oh why is everyone so afraid of them that they go along with absurdities such as this?
@recalcitrantexpat
I agree. On this issue though Ottawa is dropping the ball big time. Note this does NOT effect Domestic Canadian flights including those that fly into US Airspace. That was the LAST big flight on this issue back when Paul Martin was Prime Minister. I remember quite well Jack Layton having a press conference in the foyer of the House of Commons on this issue just after he became leader of the NDP. However, it is quite clear that the US is basically saying Canada is in its sphere of influence.
Because Air Canada, WestJet, and British Airways make a lot of money flying into the US alone(forget overflights). If AC, WestJet, and BA don’t comply they will the lose a lot of money and then their executives will have their bonuses cut and all sorts of horrible things will happen. Thus the aforementioned airlines will subject their non US operations to US regulation to protect their profits they make in the US. Ottawa could and should fight this and in fact this isn’t applying from what I understand to domestic Canadian flights whether they fly over the US or not(Because Ottawa picked a very big flight over this issue in the past and won).
This is utterly outrageous. The arrogance never ends.
FATCA for the airline industry.
oops, meant to get some formatting on those first two sentences…
A Wildrose government would track and publicly disclose waiting lists and costs for all procedures, as well as the treatment outcomes for all health facilities, Northern Hills Calgary, Canada.
Since Canada does not have a Schengen style travel area with the US, Canada should tell the US to screw itself.
Does the US really believe if someone wanted to get into the US hard enough it couldn’t be done?
The US is so insecure that it gives its border guards the authority to arrest people 100 miles inside the US!
Europe should start charging US passport holders €14 to claw back the $14 people have to pay on ESTA. I suspect the US is at the pinnacle of acting like a spoiled child and believing it should get its way all the time. The story could be different in 10 or 20 years.
I know WE are all a little sensitive to US overreach, but if it makes the sky safer to fly in, then I don’t really see what’s wrong with it.
The ESTA is a joke. Its basically just an electronic visa system now – I find it laughable that they are still calling it a visa waiver system at all.
In order to get a visa for Russia (as an EU citizen – They have longer, special forms for US passport holders!) all I had to fill out was a single page that just asked my address details and where I would be going to stay in Russia. The US visa waiver has all sorts of random questions, such as asking if you are a war criminal from Nazi Germany, if you have a mental disorder or a communicable disease, if you are a drug user and so on. Before you can start the form you have to click through two scary “warnings” and “disclaimers”. The best was the second page about the “Travel Promotion Act of 2009”, which brought in the $14 fee. How on earth can US politicians pass something like that and the ESTA and still name it with a straight face the “travel promotion act”. I think that they’ve gone insane over there..
Agree with John – The EU should implement a word for word copy of the ESTA and apply it ONLY to US passport holders. The US should just admit that they dont want anyone other than Canadians to come to the US “unscreened” and should just do away with their sham “reciprocity” entirely. Make US citizens have to apply for a visa for every country in the world that they visit. This is harsh, but is the only way to force the slimy US politicians to backtrack on any of this type of nonsense.
Don, you know good and well how the US is with naming their naming conventions 🙂 – HEROES Act, Patriot Act, etc… They always stick a good name onto a diabolical law.
@geeez- basically it seems that they wrap all of their security legislation in matters of patriotism. If you oppose the given act then your loyalty to the U.S. is put in question. So the various Acts become an easy sell with the public.
It is typical propaganda that is worthy of Nazi Germany.
@geeez- the problem is that U.S. over reach begets the very problems that it is meant to prevent. Do you really want the U.S. to become the defacto operator of North American security? Remember it is the U.S. that saw weapons of “mass destruction” in Iraq and which based on its false intelligence proceeded to wage a war that resulted in the deaths of countless Iraqis. Let us not forget about the wasted lives that are victims of the war in Afgahnistan.
Attempting to attack the U.S. by entering the U.S. from a neighboring country isn’t that easy nor is their any proof that it has ever been successfully done. All of the Sept.11 terrorist came to the U.S. through the front door. They lived in the U.S., took flight lessons in the U.S. When it comes down to it the only nation’s security that failed was U.S. security on U.S. soil.