Nexus Card

I imagine the government could use this to make political profiles of people and eventually deny entry to or harass those they feel do not uphold the beliefs and values of the country in question, even if they have no criminal record or previous run-ins with border security

Well then you've obviously never seen the inner workings of a government. The government is made up of a bunch of people, just like you and me, who really aren't that interested for the most part in their jobs. They go to work, play on the internet, answer a phone call here and there, and go home, whereupon they try and forget that they have to work for a living at all. And then they retire. Trust me, it isn't the government monitoring your movements on yahoo. It might be Yahoo - they'd be far better at it - or it might be a global ring of organized criminals. But it's definitely not the government.

I have one, and although I am concerned about personal privacy i gave that up when I got enhanced security status with the RCMP. since they already have my fingerprints it seemed silly to waffle on the eyeball scan. Incidentally, you don't need to provide an eyeball scan if you don't want to, but then you can only use the card for land crossings. At a cost of a mere $50 for 5 years I would say it pays for itself in time saved, even if you only use it a few times a year, as I do. If I save 10-15 hours a year in border lineups then I've been more than repaid. The only hitch is that you have to wait months for your interview.

yeah I remember the statement "never attribute to government conspiracy that which could be explained by government incompetence"

I had forgotten this, but the RCMP has my fingerprints too, from a security check, so that is just as good as the US whatever department having them, isn't it? So I'll probably go ahead with the Nexus pass.

Anyone know what NEXUS means/stands for?

nexus the word just means the connection of two points or of a series, so I expect it just alludes to the border connection between the US and Canada. I don't believe the letters stand for anything

I hate to admit it, but the vast majority of Canadians are about as dull as dull gets. I mean a nation obsessed with sweeping a broom across ice in front of a hard thing, and grown men chasing around a puck for millions of dollars and this is what these people get excited about?? I can never understand why they think anybody would be interested in what they do. I lived in Wpg for two academic yrs in the 70's and so many people there were obsessed about the CIA snooping around Manitoba (I was suspected of being an agent). Any outsider with actual brain function would consider the whole lot of the crazy - snoop on what - Grain & hog production which is available in the newspaper? How many waffles or perogis they consume? It is just the way so many Canadians think, ummm when they think at all.

I agree with you about the curling and the ice hockey, but everything else you said is a pile of crap!

I curl, and I love watching it too.

#15 - Did the Canadian and Manitoba taxpayers subsidize your education for two years so you probably paid a quarter or less of what you would have paid in the US? You're welcome!

Any outsider with actual brain function would consider the whole lot of the crazy

If an outsider such as you judges the whole country from what he has lived in the 70's in Winnipeg, then IMO you half-brained, at the very best. So you think the whole country is obsessed with curling and hockey? You think that Canada holds the monopoly of sport kids worth million of dollars for the game they play? If you have traveled half the known world as your "bio" pretends, I suggest that you keep travelling, but with your eyes, and mind, open for a change.

Canadian over-sensitivity, is another thing I dislike about Canadians.