"We will get through it," David Wilkins told a recent Vancouver Board of Trade breakfast meeting. "We will work it out, just like we did with softwood lumber - because that's what friends do."

Attention is turning to the controversial passport law now that the U.S. and Canada have agreed to sign the softwood lumber deal, ending a dispute that cost the Canadian lumber industry billions of dollars in countervailing duties.

"I can tell you that my government is committed to working with Canada on the implementation of this passport law," said Wilkins.

But Wilkins indicated the U.S. Congress - not the White House - will have the final say in implementing the new rules, which are part of the Western Hemisphere Trade Initiative passed in 2004.

David Wilkins

The U.S. Congress created the legislation that requires anyone - including U.S. citizens - entering the States by air or sea to have a passport by Jan. 8, 2007. Anyone entering the U.S. by land will be required to have a passport "or other secure document" by Dec. 31, 2007.

Canadian tourism industry leaders say the rules will further reduce already-declining U.S. tourist visits to Canada, but Wilkins said the number of passport applications in the U.S. has risen 22 per cent in the past year.

"We're in a post-9/11 era," said Wilkins. "We can't turn the clock back."

He added while there will be no prosperity in the Canadian-American trade relationship without security, "security and trade and security and tourism do not have to be mutually exclusive."

The U.S. will work to make the new rules compatible with existing Canada practices and as easy as possible to implement.

On the same day of Wilkins' speech last week, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security awarded a contract to Boeing to install high-tech devices and sensors designed to beef up U.S.-Canada border security.

"I don't believe that building (an electronic) fence is going to hamper the general trade or general flow of trade or traffic," said Wilkins. "Border security is important to Canada. Border security is important to the United States. You don't get a second chance. We've learned that on 9/11. You have to be vigilant. You always have to be on guard.

"But at the same time, we understand that Canada is a friend and ally, and we want to work with our friend and ally to make this new law implementation as easy as possible."

James Matkin, chairman of a Vancouver Board of Trade committee on Canada-U.S. relations, said he believes the passport law threatens trade, but also agreed with Wilkins' contention that Congress has the final say.

Meanwhile, Wilkins thanked Canadian industry and government officials, along with Prime Minister Stephen Harper and U.S. President George Bush, for ending the long-simmering softwood lumber dispute.

"Not every court ruling went in Canada's favour," said Wilkins. "You had (World Trade Organization) rulings that favoured the position of the American (lumber) industry. But it was a negotiated settlement, and in any negotiated settlement, you have to give and take. You don't get to say, 'Let's compromise and do it my way.' " In the end, he added, the Canada-U.S. relationship is about "friends helping friends."

"We have the single best, most productive and peaceful relationship the world has ever known."

(Monte Stewart can be reached at monte@businessedge.ca)