Over the weekend, I visited the National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC. Viewing the progression from the early Wright Brothers flights to the space shuttles that ferried people to the moon, it was clear that aerospace technology has come a long way in the past century. And yet, in many respects, air travel has gotten worse in recent years.

Heightened security concerns cause long waits at the airport and increased hassles for international travelers. Supersonic jets no longer shuttle passengers across the Atlantic and traditional planes slow down to conserve fuel. It is also still relatively expensive to travel by air, a situation that could be mitigated by opening our skies to foreign competitors:

The Peace Arch crossing between Washington and B.C.

New rules came into effect Monday requiring anyone crossing the Canada-U.S. border to have a valid passport:

Surprisingly, former U.S. President George W. Bush had no idea the new regulations were put into place. "I'll be frank with you Frank, I don't know about the passport issue," said Bush at a recent appearance in Toronto. "I thought we were making good progress on using a driver's licence to cross the border. What happened to the E-Z card?" In fact, neither of the last two occupants of the White House were aware of the changes: