U.S. Border Plan Surprises Canadian Officials : North America: Ottawa reacts cautiously to proposal to phase out customs and immigration checks on travelers entering the United States.

Canadian officials, who are stepping up efforts against firearms smuggling from the United States, have expressed surprise at a proposal by U.S. agencies to phase out all customs and immigration inspections on people crossing from Canada into the United States.

Officials in Ottawa, the capital, reacted cautiously to the plan Tuesday, noting that it is preliminary and would require approval by both the U.S. and Canadian governments.

The draft--floated in Washington by a group representing the U.S. Customs Service, the Immigration and Naturalization Service and the Agriculture and State departments--envisions an “open border” permitting Americans and Canadians to travel from Canada to the United States as easily as they can cross from California into Nevada. The report describes the proposal as a “long-term recommendation,” which officials said involves a three- to five-year target for implementation.

Details of the plan were disclosed by The Times on Sunday.

Although the draft deals only with border inspections on the U.S. side, any decision by the Americans to eliminate them could lead to calls for reciprocal action by Canada.

Canadian and U.S. officials already are discussing ways to speed crossings under an agreement by President Clinton and Prime Minister Jean Chretien during the President’s visit to Ottawa in February. But those talks do not entail an “open border” scenario, officials said Tuesday.

At the same time, Canadian customs officials are increasing efforts to intercept handguns and other firearms smuggled by the thousands each year from the United States into Canada, mostly by automobile. The issue is politically sensitive in Canada, which has much stronger gun regulations than the United States and a much lower crime rate. A surge of high-profile shootings in major cities in the last two years has led to fears of a rise in U.S.-style violence here.

The concern has led the government to increase penalties for gun smuggling and has spurred Canadian customs officials to begin adapting drug trafficking detection techniques in their efforts against gun smuggling. Canada also is battling illicit traffic in drugs, cigarettes and liquor from the United States.

“We’re all for a hassle-free border for honest travelers and business, and we’re working both on our own and with the United States to streamline border crossings; when we can do that, we find it a win-win situation,” said Brian Bohunicky, spokesman for National Revenue Minister David Anderson.

“But there’s an important role in keeping Canada safe, and that will continue,” he added in a telephone interview from Ottawa.

Anderson, who oversees Canadian customs, told reporters in Ottawa that he cannot “envisage the border disappearing in the near future or in my lifetime.”

Pressure to improve U.S.-Canada border crossings has risen with a surge in trade resulting from the North American Free Trade Agreement. U.S.-Canada trade totaled more than $270 billion in 1994, up $40 billion from 1993. Also last year, 112 million people entered the United States from Canada through 180 ports of entry along the 5,500-mile border.

Talks under way as a result of the trade accord signed in February include many of the short-term improvements envisioned in the draft on border crossing, such as the designation of traffic lanes for frequent cross-border travelers and the installation of automated license plate scanners and other high-tech devices.

An “open skies” agreement signed in February has further facilitated travel between the two countries by increasing the number of direct and nonstop flights between Canada and the United States.