What A Weird Weekend...(long)

[Uncle Kracker]

Re: Re: What A Weird Weekend...(long)

Originally posted by Special K
I was going to continue a follow up to this weekends happenings and let the board in on a beautiful escort I approached while she was waiting in the lobby for her driver as I was coming in late at night, but some people (particularly Lawless) may think I'm trying to inflate my already astronomical ego so I thought better of it.

Take care,

SK

Fuck them... If they don't want to read about your trip they don't have to. Everytime I get back from a trip I do these long commentaries too, no matter how pointless anyone feels they are. So go ahead and tell us your story...

We all have egos and we all like to "hear ourselves talk" (read our own type in this case). Once we can admit it, it can't be used as an insult. So use the boad for what it's for... Saying what's on your mind.

 

[Special K]

Good God!!! Please make it stop!!

On a side note, I'll be posting the rest of my story in the very near future, just a little short on time right now.

Take care and most of all have fun!!

SK

 

[Lawless]

Crossing to Canada, what varies is the enforcement of the same Canadian laws and regulations from lager crossing points to isolated ones. No question about that, it's a fact.
I have experienced it so many times as I have been, over the last five years, going through the Canada/USA border probably 40 times a year.

 

[MotJuste]

Distinct Society

Originally posted by EagerBeaver
What makes this situation even more outrageous is that Bud has stated that he was ready, willing and able to pay the outstanding fines but did not understand how to do so because the ticket was written in French. If you are going to ticket Americans why aren't there bilingual instructions on payment? What I am hearing in this thread leads me to the conclusion that the Canadians are not properly handling this situation at all, unless I am missing something here.

Besides what has already been said in response, you forget that Quebec considers itself a "distinct society". It is the only province that collects its own income tax, and the only way there was some form of co-operation on sales taxes was when the feds agreed to allow Quebec to handle GST administration within the province. Trying to get an agreement on the collection of municipal and provincial court fines would be a pipe dream, if it was really a problem which needed to be addressed, and could be justified on a cost/revenue benefit basis.

The frontline customs agent already has enough to do, trying to make a quick assessment of the person(s) seeking entry, than to also run a check on all licence plates and driver's licences. Furthermore, realistically, it's not something which could only be done for the province into which entry is sought, and would necessarily involve the creation of a national database of all unpaid court fines. You've already heard about the ballooning cost of our national firearms registry, which is partly a function of the volume of data being registered. Listing whether fines were paid for all traffic offences and minor criminal offences in Canada is not something which could or should be added to the current RCMP database of criminal matters. I shudder to think what the cost would be of just trying to set up such a database.

 

[MotJuste]

Nobody expects the ....

To try and tie together some of the observations that have been made here, and maybe actually address the situation which SK described in the post which started this thread, the agent in the booth at the border has to make some quick subjective calls based on visual observations and assessing the way questions are answered as well as the content of the answers. Is the person a citizen of a country which requires a visa to enter? Are there grounds to exclude for criminality? Does the declared purpose of the visit appear to be legitimate? Is there anything to suggest that there may be illegal importation or undeclared goods? etc.

This may account for the different experiences some may have had crossing the border, and why further examination is considered necessary. But the reason for the inquisitions some are subjected to about criminal convictions can be largely attributed to the last reform of the immigration legislation following 9/11. The detailed questioning about what was the charge and what was the sentence all feeds into an evaluation of whether the crime could be prosecuted in Canada as an indictable offence (at the risk of oversimplifying, a felony), and whether the potential punishment could be as much as ten years in prison. You could also be excluded if you've been convicted of more than one summary offences (i.e. misdemeanors) under federal law (note: not traffic or provincial statutary offences), or if you have committed an illegal act that hasn't yet been disposed of in court (thus the broad question, "have you ever been before a judge") to include fugitives and persons whose court cases are pending.

That being said, the grilling can end up with nothing formal being done because the information checks out and more than five or ten years (depending on the type of crime) has elapsed since the conviction. You are deemed to be rehabilitated, and a notation might be added to their database to that effect. Getting an official written "waiver" will not spare you the inquisition, but would make subsequent visits easier because it would have been confirmed that as of at least the date it was issued, a verification had been made about the circumstances of the conviction, its sentence and the fact that you have stayed out of trouble since then.