When the US government shut down Wednesday over a budget deadlock, panic quickly spread online: Was the US-Canada border about to close?
Search activity surged as travelers and businesses feared disruptions. But officials confirmed the border remained open, with no shutdown orders in place.
The confusion came from a different source—a technical outage at the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) that stalled commercial truck processing at key Ontario crossings earlier in the week. While passenger traffic moved largely unaffected, freight delays triggered frustration among carriers.
The Canadian Trucking Alliance (CTA) sharply criticized Ottawa for outdated systems. “The outages continue to increase significantly in frequency and duration and are highly disruptive,” said CTA President Stephen Laskowski, noting billions in trade are processed daily.
CBSA data shows nearly 400,000 people and over 12,000 trucks cross the border each day, making even short disruptions costly.
For now, political gridlock in Washington has not reached the world’s longest undefended border—keeping trade and travel between Canada and the US intact.
