The Reeve of Piney says they were caught off guard by this week's announcement that three border crossings in southeastern Manitoba will be seeing their hours of service reduced. In fact, Wayne Anderson says it was only three weeks ago that they were informed that this would not be happening.
On Monday, Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) announced that it plans to adjust hours of service at 35 land ports of entry, across Canada, as of 12:01 am local time on January 6, 2025. The list includes 12 crossings in Manitoba; three of those are in the southeast at Piney, South Junction, and Tolstoi.
That means that starting January 6th, Piney's new hours will be 9 am to 5 pm (the hours are currently 9 am to 10 pm). At South Junction, the new hours will be 8 am to 8 pm (the hours are currently 8 am to midnight). And, at Tolstoi, the new hours will be 8 am to 6 pm (the hours are currently 8 am to 10 pm).
Anderson says he was notified this summer that the changes could be coming. This prompted the municipality to express its concerns to CBSA. Anderson says they also reached out to their Member of Parliament Ted Falk.
According to Anderson, Falk wrote a letter to Dominic LeBlanc, Minister of Public Safety, Democratic Institutions and Intergovernmental Affairs, expressing concern and letting him know that border communities in the southeast are opposed to any sort of reduction in hours. Anderson says the response that Falk got was that CBSA recognizes the impacts that border crossing hours have on businesses, communities, and residents. The letter, dated November 1st, goes on to say that there will be no reduction in hours. Two and a half weeks later, CBSA announced the reduction.
"I guess this is just an ongoing thing," says Anderson. "It goes around and around and every couple of years they will try to reduce the hours and who knows what will happen."
To put this into perspective, Anderson uses the example of a senior citizen in southeastern Manitoba who belongs to a bowling league in Roseau, Minnesota. Anderson says if the league runs in the evening, the bowler may not be able to make it back to the South Junction border crossing by the 8 pm closing time and could literally have to drive hundreds of kilometres around, to get home.
"These people will just drop out of it," he says. "You can't operate like that."
Anderson says there are also young families who play hockey south of the border and will soon face the same challenge.
CBSA says these adjustments are based on an analysis of operational pressures, peak periods, and services required at the ports of entry, to minimize the impacts on border communities. Almost all of these ports of entry are processing an average of two or fewer cars or commercial trucks per hour during the hours that will no longer be in operation, and travellers have an alternative border crossing option within a 100 kilometre radius.
The Piney Reeve says keeping the crossings open in the evening is very important to a community, even if it is only two or three vehicles crossing per hour.
"You can't compare our ports of entry to Windsor or some place like that where they've got thousands of cars coming through," says Anderson. "They need a better yardstick to measure what sort of hours they keep."
According to CBSA, the decision was made in collaboration with the United States and will enhance overall security for both countries. It will allow CBSA to use its resources more efficiently by deploying officers at busier ports of entry. This will support CBSA's ability to process travellers and goods as well as to manage enforcement activities.
"A few hours of a border being open, with one or two people being employed, I can't see how that's going to break Canada," suggests Anderson.
Anderson says this is not a new problem. He notes that several times over the last decade, CBSA has suggested reducing hours due to traffic counts.
Anderson says municipalities in the southeast will continue to do their best to try and keep their communities operating efficiently. He notes they have a regional municipal forum made up of about one dozen municipalities. Anderson says several municipal councils have sent resolutions to this forum, opposing the reduced hours and he notes they will ask the CBSA once again to reverse their decision.