Question: Who needs a passport to go to Canada? Answer: EVERYONE.

New rules will soon require all American citizens who hope to travel to Canada or other countries in the Western Hemisphere by air to obtain a passport. “As of Jan. 23, air travelers from the United States to Canada, Mexico, Central and South America, the Caribbean, or Bermuda will need a passport for the first time. And after January 2008, the rule will be expanded to include all land and sea travel to those destinations.” Doug Sanders, who works at Irving Oil and regularly travels from Portsmouth, N.H., to New Brunswick, had let his passport lapse and was caught by the new rule. "We have a corporate jet that I can't get on," Sanders said. People like Sanders, now are forced to pay the $97 passport fee to travel across the border on business ventures.
During World War I, European powers wanted to prevent those with special skills or potential manpower from crossing the border. So, in turn, passports were issued to regulate spies from crossing the borders and became the norm. Following the world wars, customs and United Nations issued a standard passport with more specific guidelines containing one’s physical description and photograph.