Staff shortage snarls border traffic
With the long weekend upon us, and in the heart of the tourism season, there is increasing pressure to lessen the traffic backups that have been a frequent problem at Niagara bridges into Canada this summer.
“We know from speaking with residents, the workers and from travelling over the border myself, that wait times are significantly up from last summer,” said Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates. “It took me an hour and half to get across the border last Friday. Right now, it’s clear that (Canada Border Services Agency) just does not have appropriate staffing levels at the bridges. If you’re looking for proof of this just try and go across the border.”
Even with a decrease in border traffic entering Canada, residents have continued to experience longer-than-normal wait times when crossing into Canada, said Gates.
“This issue contains so many problems. With the dollar where it is, we could be losing millions of dollar in cross-border tourism because of these wait times — the potential losses in the manufacturing sector due to wait times which could result in job loss,” he said.
“Even worse than that is the effect this workload is having on our officers. They work day-in and dayout to ensure that our borders are safe and overworking them is not good for them or for Canada.”
Gates said the long idling times for commercial trucks and vehicles are also a “big concern” for the environment and nearby residential neighbourhoods.
“This is not the fault of the workers or their collective agreement. Simply, this is a lack of hiring by the federal government,” he said.
“We have a federal government that says security in Canada is key and yet we have this problem at our border. It’s bad for business, it’s bad for workers and it’s bad for visitors.
“I plan to continue pushing the federal government to address this issue and put more resources into the CBSA to hire more frontline border guards and decrease wait times.”
In a recent interview with the Niagara Falls Review, the general managers of the Niagara Falls Bridge Commission and Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority said too few inspection booths are open during peak periods, leading to long delays at the Rainbow, Peace and Queenston-Lewiston bridges.
There have been occasions when vehicles have waited for more than a hour, they said.
The Whirlpool Bridge isn’t seeing similar issues because it’s a Nexus-only crossing.
“It’s extremely frustrating when you wait an hour on the bridge and you find only half the lanes open,” said Lew Holloway, general manager of the bridge commission.
“What becomes incredibly frustrating is that you’re waiting on the bridge and then you notice that they’re actually closing lanes.”
The bridge commission maintains the Rainbow, Whirlpool and Queenston-Lewiston bridges, but does not dictate staffing at the border crossings.
Holloway said traffic is down about 25 per cent during the last two years at its bridges — down 14 per cent last year and another 10 or 11 per cent this year. The decrease comes from more Canadians not travelling as much to the United States, which has trumped the increase of Americans coming to Canada with the exchange rate working to their benefit.
Holloway and Ron Rienas, general manager of the Buffalo and Fort Erie Public Bridge Authority, who described this summer as a “horror show” when it comes to long wait times, said they have been in contact with CBSA and federal government officials to raise their concerns.
While the PBA is the landlord for customs between Fort Erie and Buffalo, like the bridge commission, they do not dictate how CBSA or U.S. Customs and Border Protection operate their booths.
In a recent interview with the Review, CBSA spokeswoman Nancy Thomson said from March 28 to July 10, the Peace Bridge travellers stream met the established service standards 86.1 per cent of the time, the Queenston-Lewiston Bridge 91.6 per cent of the time and the rainbow Bridge 92.3 per cent of the time.
The established service standards are 10 minutes from Monday to Thursday and 20 minutes from Friday to Sunday and holidays.
“The CBSA works with local stakeholders to monitor traffic patterns during high-volume periods,” she said.
“Delays are sometimes unavoidable when traffic surges are encountered, enforcement actions occur, and higher-than-normal traffic volumes come into play.”
Thomson said there may be a variety of factors that contribute to how many lanes are open at any given time.
“Despite our best efforts to keep traffic delays to a minimum, delays may occur due to variables that are out of our control,” she said.
“The CBSA recognizes the importance of border wait times to the Canadian trade and tourism interests. We make every effort to forecast traffic patterns and volumes, and adjust staffing levels during peak travel periods to minimize processing times and unnecessary delays at our border crossings.”
The CBSA works with local stakeholders to monitor traffic patterns during highvolume periods. Delays are sometimes unavoidable when traffic surges are encountered, enforcement actions occur, and higher-than-normal traffic volumes come into play.” CBSA spokeswoman Nancy Thomson