Kudos to MSU President M. Peter McPherson for his involvement in the call for border security talks between the United States and Canada.
A letter signed by 21 U.S. and Canadian leaders, convened by McPherson, contains ideas and goals to address security and transportation issues along the border between the two countries.
Since Sept. 11, border crossings have become slower and more difficult to pass through, and understandably so. But this difficulty puts a strain on the more than 200 million crossings annually, which result in more than $1.4 billion in trade.
As Michigan residents, it’s always been a point of pride to have access to such an easily crossable national border, and residents from both countries richly profit from the open travel the border affords. Southeastern Michigan alone accounts for 50 percent of all U.S.-Canada trade.
We hope McPherson’s initiative will spur an improved and orderly flow of traffic, to keep things running as smoothly as they have in the past so everybody can continue to make good use of our two nations’ proximity.
While the concepts and ideas in McPherson’s proposal have been discussed before, the resource sharing goals and border regulations contained in the letter are imperative to get ironed out, and there is no better time to get this done.
And to see MSU’s president at the forefront of negotiations like this is a great thing as well.
McPherson is often placing himself in a position to get his hands on a number of global affairs, and to his credit, he chooses no minor battles. He has taken part in overseeing the elections in Peru alongside former President Jimmy Carter in April, and helped form the Partnership to Cut Hunger in Africa during the summer. He also helped negotiate the 1989 U.S.-Canada Free Trade Agreement, making his involvement with the current situation ideal.
While the concern that he may not be devoting enough attention to campus issues may surface, it is important to note McPherson has a very capable and competent staff to take care of the myriad concerns that arise - on top of the large amount of time he spends attending to MSU issues himself.
McPherson’s activities give MSU prominence in the world, and are a good representation of where he wants to take the university. His goals of globalization and more recognition are helped immensely by his involvement.
And the best way to work in the global community is to start at home, with one’s neighbors. The U.S.-Canada border is a feature of our countries that we need to take full advantage of, and with luck this initiative will better enable both nations to do so.
