New U.S. border rules kick in Monday

Tough new border regulations come into effect Monday, requiring anyone entering the U.S. to carry a passport or equivalent identification.

Starting June 1, both Canadian citizens and U.S. citizens returning home will need proper identification to cross the border into the United States.

"For a traveller what that means is we can no longer can take an oral declaration. We can no longer take a driver's licence for identification," said Chief Thomas Schreiber with U.S. Customs and Border Protection.

Travellers will need either a passport, a NEXUS card or an enhanced B.C. driver's licence, also known as an EDL.

"That [enhanced licence] allows you to cross into the U.S. and back via its land and water borders," said ICBC spokesperson Adam Grossman.

"Basically this is something that works very similar to your driver's licence [but] in addition to being a driver's licence it also confirms your Canadian citizenship."

Grossman said border officials should be lenient when the new rules initially kick in.

"Neither the Canadian or American border authorities will be turning people away on June the 1st," he said.

"I think what they'll be doing is handing out information at the border for anyone who doesn't have the correct new required documentation."

Grossman said ICBC is anticipating a spike in EDL applications because of the new rules.

Officials worry rules could deter American tourists

Since April 6, 7,000 British Columbians have applied for EDLs and 2,800 have been issued.

In Washington state, only 58,000 people — less than one per cent of the state's population — have the enhanced driver's licence that will be accepted in place of a passport to allow them re-entry to the U.S.

That has some in B.C.'s tourism sector worried.

"It's going to have the biggest impact, we believe, on the spontaneous family traveller, somebody who lives close by [and] on the weekend wants to jump in their car with their family and see Canada," said Paul Vallee, with Tourism Vancouver.

An estimated 70 per cent of Americans don't hold passports, according to U.S. State Department figures for 2008.

That's raised concerns that those Americans won't bother visiting Canada, or entertain doing business north of the border, if they're now required to dole out the cash and endure the bureaucratic hassle of getting one.