OTTAWA—The Opposition is blasting a “stupid” U.S. government proposal to build fences along the border with Canada to help keep out terrorists and other criminals.

“The American people don’t see us as a threat,” said Joe Comartin, the New Democrat justice critic.

“When you get their security agencies just going off on this kind of a tangent ... well, quite frankly, it just makes me angry,” he said in an interview Thursday.

The U.S. Customs and Border Protection agency has proposed the use of “fencing and other barriers” on the 49th parallel to manage “trouble spots where passage of cross-border violators is difficult to control.”

The border service is also pondering options including a beefed-up technological presence through increased use of radar, sensors, cameras, drones and vehicle scanners. In addition, it might continue to improve or expand customs facilities at ports of entry.

The agency considered but ruled out the possibility of hiring “significantly more” U.S. Border Patrol agents to increase the rate of inspections, noting staffing has already risen in recent years.

The proposals are spelled out in a new draft report by the border service that examines the possible environmental impact of the various options over the next five to seven years.

But the agency reportedly denied yesterday that fences are actively under consideration.

And Canada’s ambassador to the United States played down the possibility of fences.

“The reports come out every day in the United States about this option or that option, but there’s no indication that that’s what the U.S. is going to do,” Gary Doer said in Regina.

“Doing an environmental study of an option is not the same as a costed, funded construction project that would happen on the U.S. side,” Doer told reporters.

“The U.S. can actually do what they want on their own side of the border. And we can do what we want on our sovereign side of the border.”

The report appeared to touch a nerve in Ottawa. The Canada Border Services Agency, the American organization’s counterpart, turned down an interview request.

But in a statement, the Canadian agency said: “The policy options in the draft report have not been part of the discussions between the CBSA and U.S. CBP on ways to improve border management.

“It is in the interests of both Canada and the United States to ensure that the border remains open, efficient, and secure.”

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano noted last month the challenges of monitoring the vast, sparsely populated northern border region. She stressed manpower, but also a greater reliance on technology.

Ironically, the moves come as Canada and the U.S. try to finalize a perimeter security arrangement that would focus on continental defences while easing border congestion. It would be aimed at speeding passage of goods and people across the Canada-U.S. border, which has become something of a bottleneck since the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

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Relatively speaking, Washington has focused more energy and resources on tightening security along the border with Mexico than at the sprawling one with Canada.

But that may be changing.

A U.S. Government Accountability Office report recently warned that only a small portion of the border with Canada is properly secure. It said U.S. border officers control just 50 kilometres of the 6,400-km boundary.

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