Liberal ‘No-fly’ List is Hitting Heavy Turbulence Across Canada

August 17, 2005

Last week’s commentary by Transport Minister Jean Lapierre regarding a Canadian ‘no-fly’ list has been met with trepidation, doubt, and, in some cases, alarm. Plus, a whole lot of questions.

The minister has been “talking” about a no-fly list to ban certain passengers from flights traveling to, from and within Canada for months. Unfortunately, he has few new details to share now. His most recent statements about the no-fly list raised even more unease about the government’s lack of a security strategy.

Minister Lapierre’s “Passenger Protect” list is generally not a bad idea. In this post 9/11 era, the federal government has a responsibility to take strong and swift measures to ensure the safety and security of Canadians. However, there has been nothing “swift” about this no-fly list which is still very much in development nearly four years after those horrific terrorist acts in the United States.

And, as Conservative Party Transport Critic James Moore, MP, points out, there are still too many questions to be answered before the list moves forward. Mr. Moore listed some of those questions:

How will Charter mobility rights be protected by this proposal?

How would someone’s name get on the list? How, in time, might it be removed?

Who in Canada has access to this list? RCMP? CSIS? Which other government departments? How will access be determined?

What other countries will have access to the list? The U.S.A. and Great Britain? Anyone else?

What are the parameters for allowing other nations access to our list?

How much will this proposal cost?

Who will pay for this proposal? Air carriers, and therefore passengers? Or the federal government?

How will this proposal protect the privacy rights of Canadians?

So many questions and virtually no answers from the federal Liberal government.

The editorial boards of some of Canada’s larger daily newspapers also asked some good questions of their own.

The Vancouver Sun asks, “What are people who have been identified as posing ‘an immediate threat’ doing still walking around in Canada?” The Sun also questioned that there is “no appeal mechanism for people who arrive at the airport only to find for some unexplained reason they are being prohibited from flying”.

The Montreal Gazette questioned how the government will limit the freedom of citizens and residents without informing them or offering them an opportunity to defend themselves.

The Halifax Chronicle-Herald went straight to the heart of the matter by asking: “If someone is prevented from boarding a plane or even buying a ticket because he might ‘pose an immediate threat to aviation security,’ then what? Do you detain him? Or do you just let him walk right out of the airport? Would it not be logical to assume such an individual also poses an immediate threat to fellow passengers on the bus, on the train or on the subway?”

That sums up the federal Liberals’ approach to Canadian security: piecemeal, haphazard and reactionary. They have no cohesive plan to effectively secure our transportation and power infrastructures against acts of terrorism. Instead of a sense of security, they’ve given Canadians repeat announcements and more unanswered questions.

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