Should Canada issue a national ID card?

[White_Unifier]

Many states around the world issue a national ID card to allow for one common efficiently standardized ID and database. If Canada were to do so, I could see two possible solutions:

1. Establish a new national ID card, or

2. Make the Canadian passport a compulsory ID for all that would double as our national ID card.

I'd personally prefer the latter option just to remove redundancy. Only one problem with the latter option would be that permanent residents could not get it, so they'd need to use their permanent resident card and foreign nationals could just use their national passports when in Canada.

Either option would allow police, CRA, and other agencies to rely on a common standardized ID and database for their work (or at least more so than is now the case) which could save the taxpayer much money in crime prevention and investigation and identification, voter ID, maybe even provincial health ID and a wide range of other purposes.

 

[petros]

A hard no.

 

[Colpy]

No. Never. Nope. **** you and the horse you rode in on.

 

[White_Unifier]

We already require ID and many databases are already integrated anyway. It's just that a common ID would allow for more efficient standardization and integration than is now the case.

It could save money that way by simplifying the complexity of the software, etc.

And who the heck gave you guys the reddies?

 

[Colpy]

We already require ID and many databases are already integrated anyway. It's just that a common ID would allow for more efficient standardization and integration than is now the case.

It could save money that way by simplifying the complexity of the software, etc.

And who the heck gave you guys the reddies?

Oh, I imagine is was one of the Stalinists on here.

No offense, btw. Your horse is actually kinda cute.

But sorry, I don't accept "But the state is already up your arse a foot and a half, it would be so much more efficient if it was twoo feet" as a rational reason.

 

[Curious Cdn]

"ID cards" ... how quaint ... how 20th century. YOU need a chip implant under the skin, just like the identifier that my pussycat has. Think of the billions that governments will save by not having to do biometric identification on every one of you walking through CCTV coverage. They'll just read the transponder output.

No chip? No vote! No chip? No credit rating! No chip? No access to public spaces! No rock concerts! No watching a celebrity drive by!

Get with it! Let's be the first ones in the English-speaking world to "chip" our population!

We're all going to end up there, anyway.

 

[White_Unifier]

Oh, I imagine is was one of the Stalinists on here.

No offense, btw. Your horse is actually kinda cute.

But sorry, I don't accept "But the state is already up your arse a foot and a half, it would be so much more efficient if it was twoo feet" as a rational reason.

The law already requires us to carry one of various alternative IDs. Do you propose that that infringes on your rights and freedoms already, that the state should have no right to impose any ID requirement on a person? If that's not what you meant, then what is the litmus test in your opinion and why?

 

[Colpy]

The law already requires us to carry one of various alternative IDs. Do you propose that that infringes on your rights and freedoms already, that the state should have no right to impose any ID requirement on a person? If that's not what you meant, then what is the litmus test in your opinion and why?

The law most certainly does not require you carry ID.

To do so would infringe on my rights.

 

[JamesBondo]

passport can not be issued to someone without a PRC. so it is hardly a suitable national ID

 

[White_Unifier]

passport can not be issued to someone without a PRC. so it is hardly a suitable national ID

CRC? You can live in any province or even abroad, be of any age, and not know how to drive, even be blind as a bat and deaf, and as long as you're a Canadian citizen, you can get a passport as far as I know.

Sorry, PRC, permanent residence card. True. That would be one advantage of a national ID card. It could be issued to any permanent or even temporary resident. I could see both options having their respective pros and cons. A national ID card would mean yet an additional piece of ID if you already have a driving license, health card, passport, etc. But yes, it would still have an advantage for the purpose of standardization.

With a passport, you could still establish a certain degree of standardization. For example, PRC, passport, and maybe a visa stamped into a foreign passport could all connect to the same national database.

Along with a refugee travel document.

The law most certainly does not require you carry ID.

To do so would infringe on my rights.

Really? So you don't need to show a driving license to drive, a hunting license to hunt, a marriage license to marry, a passport to board most flights, a health card to get free medicare, some form of ID to vote, etc.?

 

[petros]

You don't need to be Canadian to hold a Canadian Passport.

 

[White_Unifier]

You don't need to be Canadian to hold a Canadian Passport.

There are exceptions, but they require special circumstances. Not just any resident can acquire a passport. Now that I think about it though, since the inside page states the nationality, why couldn't Canada issue a Canadian passport to any resident with an understanding that the privileges might be different depending on the nationality indicated in the passport. I guess that could be done, but it could cause some confusion too. A separate national IS card might be preferable then. Either that or require everyone to carry either a national passport (Canadian or otherwise) or refugee travel document.

 

[petros]

Provincial ID works just fine. CPIC validates it anywhere in Nor Am.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Make it easier to criminally prosecute people who have sex.

 

[petros]

Would they still get conjugal visitation Rights?

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Would they still get conjugal visitation Rights?

Only if they don't have sex, under WU's plan.

 

[petros]

Being rewarded for nothing doesn't sound very libertarian.

 

[Colpy]

CRC? You can live in any province or even abroad, be of any age, and not know how to drive, even be blind as a bat and deaf, and as long as you're a Canadian citizen, you can get a passport as far as I know.

Sorry, PRC, permanent residence card. True. That would be one advantage of a national ID card. It could be issued to any permanent or even temporary resident. I could see both options having their respective pros and cons. A national ID card would mean yet an additional piece of ID if you already have a driving license, health card, passport, etc. But yes, it would still have an advantage for the purpose of standardization.

With a passport, you could still establish a certain degree of standardization. For example, PRC, passport, and maybe a visa stamped into a foreign passport could all connect to the same national database.

Along with a refugee travel document.



Really? So you don't need to show a driving license to drive, a hunting license to hunt, a marriage license to marry, a passport to board most flights, a health card to get free medicare, some form of ID to vote, etc.?

Do I have to drive?

Do I have to hunt?

I need a license to do either, or to buy a gun.

That's a LICENSE, not a mandatory ID. I can go anywhere, and not carry ID.

Actually, what you are proposing is a LICENSE to step outside my front door.

Which is why you get a hearty "**** you".

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Being rewarded for nothing doesn't sound very libertarian.

I'm not sure WU counts as libertarian, what with his anti-sex crusade. Sure you don't mean "Puritan?"

 

[White_Unifier]

I'm not sure WU counts as libertarian, what with his anti-sex crusade. Sure you don't mean "Puritan?"

It's not just prostitution, but gambling, the drug trade, and a wide range of other social problems that cost the Canadian economy billions of dollars a year in treating STIs, mental-health problems caused sexual abuse, bankruptcy caused by gambling addiction, health care costs caused by heroin and other addictions, etc. We do need tougher laws against these to save the taxpayer money.