VANCOUVER SUN NOVEMBER 12,1997 Despite the similarities in climate, geography and economics between B.C. and the two northern West Coast states, is the political chasm posed by the 49th parallel just too vast to be bridged by Canada and the U.S.? Some people think this year's feud between the two countries over Pacific salmon stocks is one indication that the dream of B.C., Washington and Oregon uniting in a cooperative effort to be known as Cascadia is just that----a dream. Yet there remains a core group of business leaders, academics and regional politicians who say the recent disputes between Canada and the U.S. Only confirm they're headed in the right direction. "It illustrates why we need this relationship," says Bruce Chipman, president of the Discovery Institute in Seattle, which oversees the Cascadia Project. "We need executive leadership on both sides of the border to make it a priority. And it needs attention. We don't have a major media outlet commonly using the term Cascadia." Throughout the 90s, groups on both sides of the border have worked quietly, but methodically, to establish ties and push for political action on issues of mutual concern-- transportation, environment, growth management and border access. But for all the behind-the -scenes goodwill, the public perception of Cascadia remains fuzzy, and support from political leaders is crumbling. The collapse of the Pacific Salmon Treaty and the cross-border name-calling has helped to ensure that. It's enough to make a dinosaur out of Cascadia before it even has the chance to evolve. Point out the lack of concrete evidence of Cascadia, and everyone blames former B.C. premier Mike Harcourt for nixing creation of a Cascadia commission to resolve cross-border disputes. What would you consider tangible when you don't have legislative authority?" Chipman says. The one major exception is Amtrak's reinstatement after a 14-year hiatus, of passenger train service, the Mount Baker International, between Vancouver and Seattle in the spring of 1995. Cascadia boosters also point to PACE lanes at border crossings, the Canpass program to speed movement through airports and a recent decision by Washington state legislature to commit $2.7 million US to widening the Pacific Highway border crossing northbound to four lanes. Future efforts will focus on joint tourism projects promoting the Cascadia region to European and Japanese travelers, improving freight movement on the Interstate 5 and Highway 99, foster meeting among border communities, and moving the rail line from White Rock's waterfront to a Pacific Highway transport corridor. In B.C. the non-profit Cascadia Institute isn't listed in the phone book, and its director, University of B.C., regional planner Alan Artibise, works part-time and without pay. To Artibise, the biggest threat to Cascadia is not the fish war, but the proposed U.S. visa requirement for visiting Canadians. "It's more than a slap in the face," he says. "It would bring business between Canada to U.S. to a grinding halt." Cascadia boosters had hoped Premier Glen Clark would have hit it off better with Washington's new governor, Gary Lock. But with relations between the two strained over the salmon dispute, officials are now looking to Seattle's new mayor, Paul Schell, to smooth international waters. Schell is a hotel developer, a former dean of architecture at the University of Washington, and, more importantly, a former co-chair of the Discovery Institute. "He's a major Cascadia booster," confirms Chipman. Schell did not answer repeated calls from The Vancouver Sun. Only a couple of years ago, Don Alper, director of CANADA-U.S. studies at Western Washington University in Bellingham, would have described Cascadia as the dream of a handful of people. Today, he's convinced the movement to establish closer economic and environmental links is growing. But he sees little evidence that the momentum is carrying through to the higher political levels. After all, if two countries cannot agree on how to share something as tangible as salmon, how can they resolve far more elusive issues such as growth management and air pollution? "The whole thing may be somewhat naive," Alper concludes.