[pyre]

  > when you board a flight to/from Canada, you have
  > to show the boarding pass and photo ID

They are looking to make sure that you have your passport more than looking for 'photo ID.' I flew into Canada over Xmas and they were specifically looking for your passport. Probably to make sure that there won't be any obvious gaffs once you land.

That said, on the domestic flight I took the TSA was at the boarding gate 'randomly' checking people as they were getting on the flight. So not everyone got checked for photo ID, but some people did.

[WestCoastJustin]

Makes sense about checking the passport flying international ;) I guess I should have said that flying domestic you also are required to show photo ID. I'm not saying it never happens down there, but on the flights we boarded, we never had ours checked and it just seemed out of the norm for what we're used to.

[mynegation]

No, it is not just that, it is a cultural thing. I recently did a long trip through South America, and only had one-way ticket to Ecuador. Canadian check-in agent refused to give us boarding pass citing an _Ecuadorian_ rule that you have to have a ticket out of Ecuador to be admitted. I had to buy two fully-refundable tickets from Ecuador to Mexico (based on cheapest price and the fact that Mexico does not ask such things).

And of course, neither Ecuador nor any of the other South American countries with the same formal rule ever asked us for the return ticket. Why would they?! Most people travel on buses between countries anyway. But Canada does not care, it sticks to the rule.