I once had them threaten to take my car! I had entered on a long-term work
contract under NAFTA at Windsor. They basically looked at my contract,
charged me $110 for the privilage of working in Canada, gave me papers, and
stamped me through -- all in less than 15 minutes.
Then I made the mistake of going to New York through Ogdensburg. When I
came back, my second mistake was being truthful. When I said I was in
Ottawa for six months, they said I needed to get the car "plated." I said
that my home was really Oregon, that I was just temporarily in Canada, and
had perfectly good Oregon plates on it. "Pull over and come inside." Ugh. I
was detained for over two hours, as they went through volumes of manuals,
called supervisors, and made me fill out about a dozen forms. They reported
me to the Ontario Police, but I was "allowed" to drive back to Ottawa with
a stern warning to get the car registered on Monday, "or else."
When I complained that the friendly folks at Windsor didn't tell me any of
this, they pooh-pooh it, saying the Windsor people didn't know what they
were doing.
Well, I never did register the car in Canada, and they never did come
looking for me. Drove home to Oregon at the end of my contract with my
still-valid Oregon plates. Sheesh!
To make a long story short -- it's the luck of the draw. You get some
pompous, self-important jerk, and you're screwed.
Okay -- my favorite "sorta nice" Canadian border crossing story: my brother
and a buddy went to a bar in Canada. When they crossed, they were asked,
"Nationality?" My brother's buddy said, "American." The border guy then
said, "North or South?"
I guess it doesn't get any better than this! :-)
: Jan Steinman <mailto:jans@xxxxxxxxxxx>
: 19280 Rydman Court, West Linn, OR 97068-1331 USA
: +1.503.635.3229
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