For businesses finding that border delays and duplicative inspections are making them uncompetitive and for travelers tired of being stuck in long lines, Christmas came a little early this year.

The two action plans released today by Prime Minister Harper and President Obama on how to make our border and our regulatory processes more efficient provide enormous benefits to citizens and businesses in both our countries that have been affected by a border that’s become so much costier, thicker and stickier in the last decade.

Washington, D.C, December 7  - The U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce welcomed today’s long-awaited announcement by Prime Minister Stephen Harper and President Barack Obama titled “Beyond the Border: A Shared Vision for Perimeter Security and Economic Competitiveness.” The business communities in both countries agreed that enhanced border cooperation has the potential to benefit the more than 11 million workers in the United States and Canada whose jobs depend on bilateral commerce.

While Governor General David Johnston’s first state visit generated plenty of press interest in the three Asian countries on his itinerary, no Canadian journalists took part in the tour. That’s unfortunate. Their reporting would have let Canadians follow their twenty-eighth Governor General’s eleven-day blitz highlighting our ties to the region and celebrating Canadians’ achievements in education, innovation and trade.

Most of us are familiar with the symbolic aspects of the Governor General’s role: he receives diplomats, presents awards, signs bills into law and reads the throne speech at the opening of Parliament.

Measured in time, Singapore is two hours by air from Vietnam. Measured by the lives of ordinary citizens, it is a universe away. A city-state with fewer than six million people, Singapore boasts a standard of living that matches Canada’s. Few, if any, North American cities come close to Singapore’s success in urban design. This multi-lingual, multicultural city is home to some of the most dramatic and inspiring architecture on the globe, which was recently enhanced by McGill-trained architect Moshe Safdie’s dramatic ArtScience Museum. The Governor General received a tour of the Museum from Mr. Safdie on Sunday.