Are new passport rules just a cash grab?

Re The new air-travel passport rules,

Letter Aug. 21 I agree with Martha Batiz that the Canadian passport is straightforward for eligible persons to apply for and no more expensive than most other passports. However, now all non-Canadian visitors to Canada need to apply for an electronic pass to use, together with their own passports, to enter Canada.

Those who have needed visas, a more expensive option, carry on as usual. But quite often a country for which a visa is required counter demands a visa for Canadian visitors. What if all countries retaliate against Canada with this new e-pass regulation and demand an electronic pass from Canadian citizens? Going back to Mexico for a visit would impose an extra fee on Batiz and others who want to travel globally.

I also understand that native-born Canadians who have opted to live and work outside the country and are dual citizens and now travel on their adopted country’s passport will be unable to obtain an e-pass. Instead, they’ll be required to purchase a Canadian pass- port, previously unnecessary, something that can be tedious and expensive to do from overseas. Otherwise they would be banned from visiting their birth country.

The whole process seems arbitrary and not well thought out for the stated purpose. Perhaps it is more than a money grab but is part of some secret scheme to eliminate foreign travel altogether for the majority of common folk. Clive Holloway, Toronto

Requiring citizens to obtain a valid Canadian passport may well be a cash grab, but it’s one I thoroughly support. As a proud Canadian possessed of dual citizenship my first act after being granted citizenship was to acquire a Canadian passport and the only times I have used the passport of my country of origin was to expedite processing on returning to my former homeland for a visit.

However, I have always used my Canadian passport on my return to Canada and fail to understand why dual citizens would not take steps to obtain a Canadian passport at the very first opportunity. Kenneth Price, Oakville