ONTARIO PURSUES DRIVERS' LICENSES AS PASSPORT ALTERNATIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 TORONTO 000081

SIPDIS

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O.12958: N/A
TAGS: CPAS PBTS PGOV PINR PREL CA
SUBJECT: ONTARIO PURSUES DRIVERS' LICENSES AS PASSPORT ALTERNATIVE

Sensitive But Unclassified - protect accordingly.


1. (SBU) SUMMARY: Ontario plans to issue a secure drivers' license
by the end of 2007 that provincial officials hope can be used to
document identity and citizenship in lieu of passports for travel
across the U.S. border. The initial, informal plan for use of the
card to cross into the U.S. would require the creation of a new
database, dependent on Canadian federal citizenship information, to
which American authorities would have access. The plan is
sufficiently complex that its quick implementation is unlikely. END
SUMMARY.

McGuinty Politicizes Long-Planned License Upgrade
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2. (SBU) Ontario will begin issuing new drivers' licenses with
upgraded security by the end of 2007. The new licenses will have
new security features, including holograms, high-quality printing,
and laser engraving. As their current five-year licenses expire,
Ontario's 8.7 million licensed drivers will receive the secure
licenses. Ontario has reportedly contracted with an outside vendor
to produce the new licenses; previously, Ontario produced all
licenses in-house. The new licenses are expected to cost drivers
the same as the old licenses - C$125 for new applicants and C$75 for
renewals.


3. (SBU) Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty wants Ontarians to be able
to use these licenses in lieu of passports for travel across the
U.S. border. McGuinty reportedly expects other provinces and
territories to follow Ontario in a national movement to push the
Canadian and U.S. federal governments to accept secure drivers'
licenses in place of passports.


4. (SBU) An Ontario Ministry of Transportation (MoT) official told
us that the secure drivers' license initiative has been planned for
a long time, and will be implemented regardless of whether the
licenses are accepted as a border-crossing document. He said
Premier McGuinty, rather than Ministry officials, wanted to also
push the secure license as a border-crossing card. MoT is following
the British Columbia-Washington State pilot program closely. Our
contact also said that the MoT had been in talks with Michigan about
a pilot project, but that Michigan's governor's office and its
transportation division disagreed between themselves about whether
to move ahead.

Showing Citizenship: Federal Help Needed
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5. (SBU) The MoT source said that Ontario has not decided how to
reflect drivers' citizenship on the new licenses. The determination
of citizenship is a federal issue, and though Ontario has initiated
discussions with the federal government, agreement on the issue will
take time. In any case, he said that it was unlikely that
citizenship would be printed on the license because of concerns
about privacy and the potential for profiling by the police.


6. (SBU) Under the preliminary plan, our MoT contact indicated that
drivers who wished to use their secure drivers' licenses as a border
crossing card would have to fill out a separate application and pay
an additional fee of C$5-C$10. The Ministry of Transportation would
then send the applicant's information to the Canadian federal
government for a determination of citizenship and eligibility. If
the applicant qualified, their information would be entered into a
NEXUS-type database, to which U.S. and Canadian authorities would
have access. When an Ontario resident tried to use the drivers'
license to cross the border, the border security official would
query this database to confirm the crosser's identity.

Is Ontario's MoT Up To The Task?
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7. (SBU) A 2005 report by Ontario's auditor general uncovered a
number of problems with Ontario's licensing system, not all of which
have been corrected. For example, the MoT is still using outdated
computer technology; though there have been intermittent updates,
the core system reportedly dates from the 1960's. Also, though
Ontario has recently tightened its identification requirements, it
formerly issued licenses to applicants identified only by non-secure
documents, like shopping club cards.


8. (SBU) COMMENT: Using new secure drivers' licenses as an
alternative to passports under the WHTI is a politically motivated
initiative. Premier McGuinty is under pressure from constituents
and business groups to derail or significantly modify the passport
requirement. If he succeeds in getting the drivers' license
accepted, he will score a public relations coup. The complexity of
the preliminary plan, the overlapping jurisdiction of the provincial
and federal authorities, and the MoT's technical problems make it
unlikely that the secure licenses will be ready for use crossing the
border anytime soon. END COMMENT.

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