MONTREAL – Quebecers can now get a driver's licence that will allow them to cross the U.S. border without a passport, and even the province's privacy watchdog is satisfied with the new high-tech cards.

In the border town of Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle yesterday, Premier Jean Charest pulled a freshly printed driver's licence "Plus" out of his wallet, the first to be issued in the province.

The new "enhanced" licences look like the current permits, except they have a hidden radio frequency identification (RFID) microchip. The chip allows border guards to access information about the driver, such as citizenship.

As with passports, only Canadian citizens will be able to obtain the new licences.

Charest said before the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, the main border preoccupation was trade. After that, it became "security trumps trade," he said, quoting former U.S. ambassador Paul Cellucci.

From June 1, new American security regulations require anyone entering the U.S. by land or sea to have a passport or an enhanced driver's licence.

Charest outlined the problems that would result if a passport were the only option. One is the ability of Montreal to attract conventions to the city. The other is the hypothetical family of five from Boston that wants to take a long weekend in Quebec City, but needs a passport for each member first. "That's $500 before they even get going," he said.

Charest said New York, Washington, Arizona and Michigan have acted on enhanced licences already. In Canada, B.C. and Ontario will roll them out this spring.

Privacy advocates had been leery of RFID-enabled licences, worried about how much information would be available on the driver, who would have access, and where it would be stored.

But after improvements to the program, Quebec's privacy watchdog has approved the plan.

The optional licences will cost $40 on top of the $72 a licence costs.