The fishing is also limited in Rainy Lake, which straddles the border. Some say Canada is playing hard ball. The Canada Minnesota Business Council has 200 members and serves as a forum for discussion of trade and economic issues between business owners. The communities on either side of Rainy River each have about 8,000 residents. Their downtowns are just l0 minutes apart, and many families have members in both communities.
Relations appear very cordial between the towns with cooperative efforts both symbolic and real.
American agents are having a tough time searching a car for beanies or even asking how many are on board. Shold says it would be tough to pull illegal beanies out of kids' arms. Sometimes the wait to cross is a couple of hours. Minnesota and Canada share 500 miles of border with relatively few agents to patrol it. Rick Hebzynski and Cliff Bentley Web Production by MPR Online Services Major funding for Minnesota Public Radio's regional Internet activities is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.