PORT ANGELES — Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff told Port Angeles Mayor Karen Rogers and others this week that a driver’s license that meets “Real ID” requirements could meet impending border security requirements.
“Now we’ll see if he backs it up. We about fell off our chairs,” Rogers said Wednesday after returning from the annual conference of the Pacific NorthWest Economic Region in Edmonton, Alberta.
Chertoff and his Canadian counterpart, Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day, were the conference’s Tuesday morning breakfast speakers, Rogers said.
Chertoff also told the group that ferry crossings between the U.S. and Canada would be treated the same as land crossings, she said.
The revelations, which could signal a major shift in federal border control policy, came during a private roundtable discussion that included Chertoff, Day and Rogers plus British Columbia provincial officials and Washington state officials.
Pacific NorthWest Economic Region is a partnership of business and government officials from five U.S. states, two Canadian provinces and one Canadian territory that lobby on regional issues affecting both sides of the border.
Mayor speaks at conclave
Rogers said she was asked to speak at the conference at the invitation of Tourism Victoria, the promotion arm of the Greater Victoria Visitor and Convention Bureau.
She was joined by Ken Oplinger, president of the Bellingham/Whatcom Chamber of Commerce, and Lorne Whyte, chief executive officer of Tourism Victoria.
They discussed border issues all Monday, Rogers said.
Then because the passport issue is of great concern, they arranged to have Chertoff and Day to be the meeting’s Tuesday morning speakers, she said.
