WASHINGTON - Three premiers pushing for passport alternatives found a powerful ally Tuesday in New York legislator Louise Slaughter, who blasted American officials as confused, unreasonable and ignorant about the Canada-U.S. relationship.

"Our difficulty is coming from the Department of Homeland Security, not the White House,'' said Slaughter, who chairs the rules committee in the House of Representatives that vets every piece of legislation.

"(Canadians) are the best friends we've ever had and now what they're saying is: `We're not going to trust you over there. We're going to make everybody have passports.'''

"The problem is trying to persuade DHS to do something sensible.''

Those words were poetry to Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, Manitoba's Gary Doer and Shawn Graham from New Brunswick.

They spent three days in the U.S. capital, gathering support for a delay in new security rules at land and sea crossings while currying support for high-technology driver's licences instead of passports.

Slaughter wants to fast-track a bill she introduced this month forcing U.S. officials to take all the time Congress gave them on passports, until June 2009.

Officials would have to fully consider a pilot project on driver's licences starting in British Columbia and Washington state.

They'd also have to analyze the costs and benefits of passports and an alternative ID card for Americans dubbed passport lite.

"They seem absolutely determined to implement the whole thing by January 2008 and that would be disastrous,'' said Slaughter.

"Our life's blood depends on it; it is our economy,'' she said, noting a lot of damage has already been done.

"People are afraid to go to Canada, they don't know if they can get back. Misinformation has been profound. People believe it is already in effect.''

The National Governors Association adopted a resolution supporting the cause Tuesday, applauded as a key step in convincing legislators on Capitol Hill, especially those from states away from the border.

The measure supports a delay, as well as passport substitutes and a program for frequent travellers.

"This is about jobs, it's about dollars and it's about our ability to maintain an absolutely wonderful friendship,'' said McGuinty.

"It is a false choice to presume we somehow have to choose between a border that is secure and a border that permits the flow of people and goods.''

But Canada and the United States need to decide what technology they'll require in any passport alternatives so the provinces can get going, he said.

"We have the capacity to do this technology as premiers,'' said Doer.

"We don't want to spend money on technology that will not be relevant.''

Said Graham: "We need to recognize there are a number of towns and cities on each side of our border that act as one community.''

In a luncheon speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Slaughter told a room full of top business leaders that officials have lost sight of the "special friendship'' between the two countries.

"I can't for the life of me figure out how DHS and (the) State (Department) are going to justify this move.''

She noted that officials privately admit they won't even have machines ready in time to read the security passcards they're devising.

"I really question the benefit of introducing cards if you can't read them,'' said Slaughter.

"It's clear that Congress is going to have to step in and restore common sense before it's too late.''

She acknowledged that some in Congress think Canada is a "hotbed'' of terrorism, dismissing as silly a move last year to study building a fence along the border.

"That would be a very interesting fence up where I live, because it would have to be built in the middle of Lake Ontario.''

She blames the passport mess on "growing pains'' at Homeland Security, a mammoth department created after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

"I'm not sure it's their fault as much as ours. I don't know that we should ever have put 17,000 in an agency, thrown them all in together and hoped it would work.''

Tom Ridge, who ran the department in the early days and is now a private consultant, said the United States has to be "resolute but reasonable.''

There were "dramatic adjustments'' after Sept. 11, he said. Now it's time to "adjust those adjustments.''

"The goal is balance. We're bound by much more than geography.''

The passport law, known as the Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative, has already gone into effect for people flying into the United States.

Studies have estimated that both countries could lose significant sums if the new border measures end up choking tourism and delaying commerce.