I don't know if those stories about electrical workers being turned away because of their union status is true or not, but at some point I just gotta say:

You Americans are great neighbors, but it's so often we see you shoot yourselves in the foot because your government is too big and unable to respond to an emergency.

When 9-11 happened, on September 12th there were Canadian SAR teams packed and ready to go at the Vancouver airport with airline tickets they bought themselves for New York to help with the recovery effort at ground zero. They weren't granted permits to enter the US and so they slept at the airport until they were allowed to enter the US. SAR teams from Nova Scotia and New Brunswick beat them to New York by droving down there in their own cars along with their dogs and equipment. If Canadian authorities can approve the landing of every inbound flight destined for the US at a Canadian airport within minutes, why can't US authorities move as quickly in dealing with emergencies? (Winnipeg had dozen's of US and foreign jets landing here because we're the last major airport (except for the airport at Churchill that can handle a large jet, but just barely) before you cross over the North Pole. I still remember the Winnipeg radio stations asking people with empty beds in their homes to come to the airport to pick up stranded passengers who needed a place to stay. I phoned CJOB here in Winnipeg and said I had two empty apartments, but couldn't provide any furniture. They never phoned me back.)

When Katrina flooded New Orleans, the Canadian government had two war ships ready to send to New Orleans with the supplies that would be needed; tents, plywood, bottled water, food, etc. We repeated asked your government what was needed down there, and repeatedly got referred to FEMA, and repeatedly got no repsonse from FEMA. We finally ended up sending the ships with what we thought would be needed, but they only arrived after the US military took control of the situation from FEMA, and it didn't make much news because the US military had the resources to get the situation under control. We left the cargo with the US navy and our ships sailed back to Halifax.

Your government just seems to be too big and cumbersome to deal with emergencies. You need to have a way of waiving the paperwork requirements during emergencies so that your FRIENDS can help out when needed. As it stands now, no one seems to want to exercise the authority to waive those requriements to get things done faster... presumably for fear that lowering your guard is just going to make it easier for your enemies to launch another terrorist attack.

Canadian SARS teams that can name every member of the Monkees, and who can list off your US presidents in order from JFK to now are NOT terrorists. Just doing some ethnic profiling and asking some questions that people born and raised in Canada would know the answers to, but Pakistanis and Arabs wouldn't might be a way of doing that. Like for example, "Who was the now deceased creator of the Muppets?", or "In baseball, what is a southpaw?", or "Why didn't Edward Kennedy ever run for President?" Surely anyone who knows the answers to any of those questions grew up here and is only wanting to help because he has specialized training that is needed in the disaster zone.

You're a great country, but you always create problems for yourselves because your officials are too afraid to take a chance on trusting people who are wanting to help out.