Yesterday morning I attended a meeting in the Massena Town Hall at the invitation of Congressman Bill Owens (D-NY23), who also invited his Canadian counterpart, MP (Member of Parliament) Guy Lauzon and Bob Kilger, mayor of the city of Cornwall, Ont. (my Canadian counterpart, for lack of a more accurate description). Massena Town Councilman John Macaulay was also in attendance.
The meeting's primary focus was the Massena/Cornwall border crossing and how best to address the issue of the location for the Canadian port of entry which was located on Cornwall Island until it was closed last year during a dispute with the Mohawk Council of Akwesasne over Canada's decision to arm its border personnel for the first time. After the closure last year, the Canadian port was relocated temporarily to the ramp at the end of the bridge in Cornwall. It's till there, I believe, although I haven't visited Cornwall in a few months.
As is stands right now, the Canadians are trying to decide the best location for their port. According to Mr. Lauzon and Mr. Kilger, local officials in Cornwall and MCA Grand Chief Mike Mitchell like the idea of moving the Canadian operation to the US side of the border so that sits alongside the Massena Port of Entry and its bevy of U.S. Department of Homeland Security officials in Rooseveltown.
To make a long story short, the Canadians were wondering how Congressman Owens and Massena Town officials felt about this idea of "co-locating" US and Canadian border officials in Rooseveltown. Congressman Owens, Mr. Macaulay and I all said we saw no problem with that idea and that it made sense. Now Mr. Owens and Mr. Lauzon will be very busy back in Washington and Ottawa trying to convince their respective federal agencies of the merits of this plan.
I hope they are successful and pledge to do whatever I can as Town Supervisor to assist the process.
Needless to say, all of this was very interesting and holds great potential for future developments that should ease the crossing at our border. And with the strong possibility of the Canadian Loonie and the US Greenback staying at par, this could be a very positive way to keep Canadian shoppers coming to Massena to spend their money.
This was my second meeting with Congressman Owens and I was again impressed with his knowledge of our area and his apparent hands-on approach to his office. I'm still very discouraged by his vote for "healthcare reform" but that's a topic for a different day.
And while all of the border discussion was interesting, the most entertaining aspect of the whole session was the Lauzon/Kilger relationship. You see, Mr. Kilger used to be the MP for the Cornwall area until he was defeated by Mr. Lauzon! The two of them remain friends and even rode together from Cornwall to the meeting in Massena. They joke about the election when Mr. Lauzon won. After his defeat, Mr. Kilger ran for and was elected mayor of Cornwall. The two men have known each other for years and even played together on the same hockey team as teenagers. It was wonderful to watch the two of them interact with the teasing and playful jabs of old friends.
Part of the discussion turned to Mr. Kilger's former work as a linesmen and eventually a referee in the National Hockey League. After nine years in black and white stripes, Mr. Kilger coached Cornwalls Junior A hockey team for a number of years.
In the back-and-forth between the old pals, Mr. Lauzon said, "Bob, tell them who your linemate was (as a player) during Junior Hockey." Mr. Kilger then told us his blueline partner in Junior hockey was none other than the great Bobby Orr. He said when he was the on the ice and found himself with the puck on his stick, "I didn't look for anyone else. I just made sure to get the puck to Bobby. That was my game plan!" Needless to say, we all found that entertaining and rather funny. Who wouldn't take the same approach if you were wearing the same jersey as Bobby Orr?
One last interesting sidebar to Friday's meeting: as we were breaking up, I asked Mr. Owens if he had heard the recent breaking news that one of his colleagues, Bart Stupak, had just announced he wouldn't seek re-election. "Stupak's not running?" he asked incredulously. Mr. Macaulay and both acknowledged that we had just heard the announcement within the hour. Mr. Owens said he had not heard the news before we told him.
Guess that gives you an indication of what the 24-hour news cycle means today. We heard about Stupak's announcement before his colleague Mr. Owens.
Amazing.
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