Since the attacks on the World Trade Center towers, we find ourselves in a time whereby the current airport security system and standards are no longer adequate.
The December 10, 2001 budget allows for the creation of a new federal air security authority. Legislation relating to this authority is currently being drafted and should be presented to the House the week of January 28, 2002.
Some people in government are advocating the rejection of a national security screening system with a dedicated federal work force. Instead, they are proposing that the new authority contract out airport security screening. If this is the case, then we will have lost the opportunity to create a cohesive national organization that can ensure national standards of safety and security. This proposed solution is not much better than what is currently in place.
Although the intention is to partially reproduce the NAV Canada model, the fact is there is no existing equivalent to this quasi-Crown corporation. The proposed Canadian authority would have the potential to contract out the positions of security screeners directly or through airport authorities. Do we really need this government to experiment with the safety and security of passengers, when a model has already been established and is being implemented in the US?
In the current Canadian model, security personnel work in a low-wage, high turnover situation caused by contracting the service out to the lowest bidder. What we need is an entity that will ensure fair wages, the possibility of forging careers in the field of security, and job satisfaction, not the maintenance of the status quo.
As the Environics Survey has shown, Canadians want the new agency to be directly responsible for security screeners, to directly employ the screeners and to be directly accountable for the service.
The December 10, 2001 budget allows for the creation of a new federal air security authority. Legislation relating to this authority is currently being drafted and should be presented to the House the week of January 28, 2002.
Some people in government are advocating the rejection of a national security screening system with a dedicated federal work force. Instead, they are proposing that the new authority contract out airport security screening. If this is the case, then we will have lost the opportunity to create a cohesive national organization that can ensure national standards of safety and security. This proposed solution is not much better than what is currently in place.
Although the intention is to partially reproduce the NAV Canada model, the fact is there is no existing equivalent to this quasi-Crown corporation. The proposed Canadian authority would have the potential to contract out the positions of security screeners directly or through airport authorities. Do we really need this government to experiment with the safety and security of passengers, when a model has already been established and is being implemented in the US?
In the current Canadian model, security personnel work in a low-wage, high turnover situation caused by contracting the service out to the lowest bidder. What we need is an entity that will ensure fair wages, the possibility of forging careers in the field of security, and job satisfaction, not the maintenance of the status quo.
As the Environics Survey has shown, Canadians want the new agency to be directly responsible for security screeners, to directly employ the screeners and to be directly accountable for the service.