Time for Canada, U.S. to get serious about how, when to reopen border, experts say

A panel of experts and powerful political luminaries from both Canada and the United States sounded the alarm Thursday about what they consider an urgent need to get serious about reopening the shared border.

A task force assembled by the Washington-based Wilson Center's Canada Institute gathered several international trade and travel experts to sound off on what needs to happen, and why, and when.

The overwhelming consensus: time is rapidly running out.

"I think some of the biggest impacts are the social costs that we just can't monetize, like missing the birth of a child, or the death of a loved one," said Laurie Trautman, director of the Border Policy Research Institute at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash.