Running Canada
 

professional drivers; I noticed that quite a few carriers run into Canada from the US. What are the pluses and minuses of running Canada? Go safely; see you on the big road! :rock:

Re: Running Canada
 

Well you?re privileged to run in the greatest country on the planet

One of the safest and cleanest

We won't shoot you for 50 cents

Run Chicago, NYC, Detroit, LA, just to name a few, then run Toronto, Calgary, Vancouver just to name a few then tell me what you prefer.
:wink:

PS: There are no minuses to running Canada, except you have to deal with your power tripping arrogant US Custom agents on the way back home

Re: Running Canada
 

I enjoy running Canada. I used to run up there frequently. Haven't been there in a while. While there are similarities to the US it is a different country. Canadian customs is usually not a problem. You might want to take your birth certificate with you. They occasionally will ask for it at customs. Most of the time they will check you out and let you go. US customs is a different story. These people can be a real PILL! Make sure if you are bringing a load out of Canada to have a Manifest. The brokers are supposed to take care of this but sometimes don't. US customs can fine you $5,000 for that little mistake. Don't even think of taking a gun into Canada. If you have one in your truck you better git rid of it before you cross the border. You could be arrested and fined up to $10,000 and if you are a owner operator lose your truck. Radar detectors are also illegal. If you have one better unplug it and throw it in the sleeper. Fine and confiscation of the detector.

One thing you need to get used to when you cross the border is kilometers instead of miles. 100 kph is not 100 mph. It is 62 mph. They are usually cool with trucks as long as you behave in a respectful manner and keep your speed down. You can usually run 65-70 mph without them bothering you. I generally go with the flow of traffic when I am there. Most truck stops take US money. Last time I was there $1. Canadian was worth $0.64 US funds because of the exchange rate. I use a credit or debit card when I am up there. I get a better exchange rate. I also usually leave a tip in US funds. It is better for the waitresses. If you use cash at the truck stops they Will give you change in Canadian funds which cannot be used in the US. You will also pay a premium to the truck stop for the privilege.

Most Canadians are friendly to Americans. After all, we are "kissing cousins." It is a beautiful country. It is easy to forget you are in another country and not back in the US sometimes. Unless you are in Toronto or one of the larger cities traffic is usually not too bad. Canadian drivers are usually more respectful of truckers. They will usually let you in front of them if you give them a turn signal. If you have a felony conviction don't even think of crossing the border. You can get a waiver from the Canadian government but it takes a while and is rather expensive. I have spoken to a few drivers who have done this, but I don't recall all of the details. There are some offenses that are misdemeanors here are felonies in Canada. If you are in doubt get in touch with them or talk to your carrier. Fuel is in Liters and is more expensive than in the US. I try not to purchase fuel in Canada. If I cross in Detroit, I fill up before I leave Ohio. That is about all I can recall, at the moment. Customs is the major obstacle. Mostly coming back into the US. There is a fee to getting back into the US too. Better take some cash with you so you can get back in.

Ok, this might be a dumb question, but as I have never gone to Canada before I thought I would ask. Does having a passport help? As I have one.

It helps Maveric but not necessary

Just bring lots of them greenbacks :wink:

Re: Running Canada
 

Pfffffffffffft-Greatest country?? Hardly
Used to be nice to run Canada in the 70-80's-Now it's worse than the States

Love running up there a clean country. negitive side it takes along time to cross the border some times.

Just watch out for all the People from India "Attempting" to drive truck and killing everybody.
If you like Socialism you'll Love Canada

What the hell are you talking about.

One of the most Socialistic countries in the World-
As a combat vet i HATE when a country takes in our little weasels who dodge the draft.
Lot of Canada is south of me so i know what goes on there plus my best buddy lives in Sask.

It's true we are socialists and in a way I like that. You'll be happy to know we denied entry to one of your soldiers who claimed he would be persecuted if he went back to the states because he refused to fight in Iraq claiming it is an illegal war. He is unfortunately going to waste our time by appealing the decision to a higher court.

If you have a passport take it with you. If not, get a copy of your birth certificate to keep in your wallet. They rarely ask for it but if they do things will run a lot smoother if you have one or the other. They usually just run your background using your drivers license.

When I go to the states, I always hand over my passport, my drivers license, and now my fastpass. Once I was still asked for proof of citizenship from a US officer and had to hand them my citizenship card. I carry it with me all the time just to be sure I can cross.

I thought that if you had fast pass you didn't need to have anything else, Hanged_Man? :?

The fastpass usually works by itself but it isn't actually an ID and isn't supposed to be used as one. You still need to carry your ID just in case. It is just a fast express membership card and you still need to prove you are that person.

LOL Nothing can get that bad

How do you mean??

And if your talking about the people who didn't want to sign up for the bullshit war called Vietnam I don't blame them for coming here


As far as the ones (who are in the military) running here because of the Iraq war well

They new what they were getting into when they signed up for the military, so they should not be allowed to stay here. You can have them back

Well i was IN that "Bullshit" war and you don't know what the hell you're talking about so shut the hell up and Stay in Canaduh

I learned something new. That is good to know, Hanged_Man. Had I kept running Canada I would have probably gotten a fastpass. It is supposed to really speed up the crossing on both sides of the border. By the way, you have some really "gorgeous babes" at these crossings on your side. Is that to just throw us Americans off our guard? :lol:

What is a fastpass and what is it used for? Go safely; see you on the big road! :rock:

If Canada wasn't so lax with their immigration policies the border wouldn't be so tight coming in.

I still recommend getting a fastpass. There are definitely advantages even if you can't use the fast express lane. For one if you show them your pass they will consider you low risk and not bother with security checks that have already been done to acquire the pass. Also you can leave your fastpass on the dash and a scanner will read the chip as you enter the border crossing, somewhat disarming the crossing guard even before they see you. And if you do have to go see your broker then go back to see customs and some crossings you'll have a separate line for fastpass holders so you can avoid the lineups. Also if you are in a passenger car you can use the pass where Nexus cards are accepted. The Nexus card is the equivalent to fastpass for non commercial traffic. There are also some companies that only want to hire fast express members so you have more job opportunities. Even those employers that don't require fastpass will be happy to know that you have one if you cross the border. Anyway there are no negatives to being a card holder except for the cost of course.

Oh please, the only experience Americans have coming into Canada is from a US/CAN border crossing. The logic is simple, if a guy (supposedly a terrorist) is leaving the US without having blown anything up, it kinda ruins any credible argument that he is a terrorist, so no need to treat him as one. Canada is not a terrorist target so why should we act as if we are one and give Americans and Canadians a hard time when crossing a US/CAN border based on that assumption? It of course does not mean we are blind, quit the opposite, we are conscious of this reality are react accordingly. Furthermore we share 100% of our information with the US. You guys do not reciprocate, and worse you don?t even share information between your own agencies to the point where a know terrorist by one department can be held and released by another department totally unaware of who they have in custody on some unrelated charge. My point will be further illustrated if you just read on.

If you are talking about a non US/CAN border, such as international flights coming into Canada from foreign countries other than the US, then you guys have no experience or idea of what we do. No one should use their experience at a US/CAN border as a basis for concluding how we behave at our other ports of entry which is where the real risk lies. It is a completely different situation there, and we are proficient at our jobs. As I have said before, none of the 9-11 terrorists came through Canada. They were accepted directly from your immigration bureau, and one or two of them with pending visa applications were issued their permanent visas one year after they died on 9-11. I shouldn?t have to tell you how pathetic that is, and I shouldn?t have to say how scary it is for Canada to know it is sitting beside a country targeted by terrorists around the world. I can also assure you that every Canadian is concerned about terrorism as much as or more so that Americans. I was living in California on 9-11 and for a year thereafter. I could see that I was immensely more affected by that event than all of the Americans around me.

The question posed in this thread was what it takes to run Canada. Let's keep the patriotic infighting out of it. There's really no need for it. We all have our opinions and an opinion isn't gospel. Thanks.

The fast express program is a pre-screening to identify low risk individuals. The privilege of being considered low risk is faster, hassle free border crossings (less spot checks and use of dedicated lanes). The benefit to maintaining this program is less recourses spent continually rechecking low risk individuals thereby freeing up those resources to do more thorough checks on the remaining traffic.

I'm a newbie want to be. I was talking to a SNI driver this weekend. He asked me if I have ever had a DWI or any moving violations. I said no DWI and only one speeding ticket was 15 years ago. He said I would run a lot to Canada because of such a clean driving record, is this true?

Then how come that sentiment wasn't posted in response to yoopr's post?

Still a BULLSHIT WAR whether you were in it or not, and I know what I'm talking about. If you thought it was a ?just war? than you have to be the daftest person I have ever met. It was a senseless waste of American lives pure and simple

Never have blind fath in your leaders it will get you killed

And you are still welcome up here any time

PS: Back to the origional topic as a mod pointed out.

I believe A DUI will prevent you from entering Canada forever. It is an unpardonable criminal offense here. Since you don't have one, and no felonies, you should have no trouble entering Canada. Unpaid alimony will also prevent you from crossing the border.

[quote="Hanged_Man"]hang man wrote..............
Then how come that sentiment wasn't posted in response to yoopr's post .................................................. .................................................. .................................................. ............... That's my thoughts exactly hang man! :shock: This isn't the first time yoopr used this board to run down canada. If some thing gets posted on here which isn't true then we should have the opportunity to refute it.Unless you are in agreement with yoopr. :sad: I agree with you twilight not the place for this debate ......

Because I made that post as soon as I read the thread for the first time. Mods can't read every single thread...this would be a 24/7 job. Most of the threads that get past page 1, I'll look into to make sure there isn't a flamewar going on. But beyond that, we rely a lot on people letting us know that someone has gotten out of hand.

In this case, people (meaning everybody) need to cool their jets regarding Canada/US relations. It's political, it's a hot-topic, and people can rarely disagree about it without it stirring up patriotic emotions for whichever country you reside in. Standard human emotional response, I guess. Just check the emotions at the door.

Back to the topic at hand:

.

The DUI info is actually untrue. Drivers with DUI's are capable of crossing the border, as long as the DUI wasn't an aggravated offense that included evasion, resisting arrest, or and accident with injuries or fatalaties. We are able to hire driver's with a past DUI here as long as it was more than 5 years ago. We run very little Canada, but have never had a driver with a DUI have any issue with it.

You are right on with the the alimony thing, though. Canada considers unpaid child support to be a felony.

In Montreal they speak English but pretend they don't-
about the part of "I cared more about 9/11 than most Americans you were with" Perhaps you should choose better friends
BS

It's true, I do not BS, and I know how to choose my friends thank-you. I was at work at the time and we had a TV there. Everyone just kept working but I couldn't, I was too upset. I couldn't do anything but follow the news for almost a week. Some of them even said America deserved it. I am still freaked out about that.

In Montreal we have a language problem because some people don't speak French, and some people don't speak English. I drive teams and they always put me with a guy that doesn't speak English because they don't want to put two guys that don't speak English in the same truck going to the US. Believe me there are a lot of people who can't speak English in Montreal. There are some, like myself, who refuse to speak French even though they are fluently bilingual so I speak English to the French people. If however they really can't speak English I speak French. French people are used to people like me and so they in turn refuse to speak English whenever possible even if they can because they want to protect their language. It isn't uncommon to hear two people talking, one of them in French, and one in English, but if you mention that you are American and do not speak French, someone would be happy to translate.

Regardless, I fail to see in your reply any reason to say that US border problems are caused by Canada.

I wasn't PERSONALLY attacking you-I was talking about the PM who RIPPED our President-that OTHER poster who very uncraftedly attacked me for being a Vietnam Vet-I was also in Iraq and PERSONALLY saw WMD and the effects of it later on with Live stock in Iraq.

PS-I lost a very good friend at the Pentagon who was in the Army when it was attacked.

You KNOW, if you're honest with me, that MANY in Quebec said or thought We deserved it.

J'taime

I go to Canada hunting about every year. However since 911 it's a bit difference.

And If you have a DUI, DWI your OMVI (there all the same anyway) or any other Felonies, don't think about crossing the border.
In Canada "Drinking and Driving" is a Felony ( in Quebec, you can get Life in prison for DUI).

If they check your record they turn you around and send you back across.

But the only problems that I have every had was from the US Customs personnel. (Must have been bored) JERKs! And that was before 911!

The Canadian have a better Health care system than we do!
IF you work! Your Covered! ....

Hell dont feel bad Hangman. We have alot of people here in the us who cant speak english. And they were born here.

OK I won't take it personally. I?ve never heard of Paul Martin being anything other than respectful to George Bush and I was curious enough to search but I couldn?t find anything. I know they have different views on some subjects but in light of his recent invited visit to George?s ranch I can?t see it having been seen too negatively by the President. I sure would like to know what it was though.

The Vietnam War was before my time. I was only 9 when it ended but the idea of protecting South Vietnam, which was against communism, from collapsing and being controlled by the communist North Vietnam sounds like the right thing to do in my book.

I wasn?t in Quebec at the time but I?m sure that you are correct. As sad as that is, it is not nearly as shocking as Americans saying it. When an outsider says something negative, I take it as bigotry, somewhat like when a white person insults a black person or visa-versa. When white people start bad mouthing white people for being white, then I get confused, and that was basically my problem with Americans saying what they did about 9-11. They should know better.

Hope this woman stays up there cuz she's SURELY not welcome here-Might be hazardous to her health.

This past spring, Carolyn Parrish, a Liberal Member of Parliament from Mississauga (west of Toronto), blurted out into an open microphone, ?Damn Americans! I hate those bastards.? Instead of being vilified for the remark, Parrish became a folk heroine in Canada and appeared on the Mike Bullard Show (the Canadian equivalent of David Letterman).

Folk Heroine??? hmmmmm