Regina Leader-Post

Airport irritants for Canadians

- COLIN KENNY Colin Kenny is former chair of the Senate committee on national security and defence.

If you’ve flown anywhere in Canada recently, you will have noticed waiting times are getting worse. Since 2013, the length of screening times has deteriorat­ed so badly that the Canadian Airport Council referred to security screening services as a being in a state of “crisis.”

Not only are we waiting more, we are paying more. The World Economic Forum says Canadians pay some of the highest air travel prices in the world. One part is a fee for the so-called Air Traveller’s Security Charge (ATSC).

The security charge was introduced after 9/11 by the Chretien government to fund air transport security and the newly minted Canadian Air Transport Security Authority. Instead of improving security, it has turned into a major cash grab by the Finance Department. Since 2011, the budget of CATSA has declined even though ATSC revenue has steadily increased. From 2010 to 2013, $260 million was siphoned away from airport screening into the consolidat­ed revenue fund.

While it is annoying to wait in long lines, more important is the security risk these lines pose. A new wave of terrorist attacks on airports in Moscow, Brussels and Istanbul occurred between the sidewalk and the security inspection line. Instead of viewing screening lines as an annoyance, officials should see these lengthenin­g lines as a soft spot for terrorists.

Another problem with airport security highlighte­d in David Emerson’s 2015 review of the Transporta­tion Act is the strange restrictio­ns faced by CATSA. Essentiall­y, CATSA has no control over security screening policy. This has led directly to poor service and long wait times. Emerson recommends adopting the U.S. model wherein a single “agency has responsibi­lity for both regulatory oversight and operations.”

The transport minister should get on with it. Give CATSA the policy authority to make airport screening faster, smarter, and safer. Then reduce the security charge to match CATSA’s new budget.

But perhaps the greatest failing of the Canadian model is with our trusted traveller program: NEXUS. That’s the background check where travellers volunteer their informatio­n to border officials to become pre-screened. They are then deemed “trusted travellers” and expedited through customs.

NEXUS cardholder­s are also offered a special line at security screening. The problem is, it’s not that special. NEXUS users are still forced to submit to the same screening procedures as other passengers. The question is: if our border officials allow these pre-screened travellers to enter the country quickly and safely, why doesn’t the same practice apply at airport security?

Replacing this “one-sizefits-all” approach to passenger screening with a risk-based, intelligen­ce-driven approach was a key recommenda­tion in the Emerson review. The U.S. long ago adopted this model. As a result, “trusted travellers” are able to pass through security lickety-split. In fact, the processing rates at U.S. airports are twice as fast as in Canada.

The government should also be doing a better job promoting NEXUS. Lower the $50 applicatio­n fee and advertise the program heavily at airports. More pre-cleared travellers means CATSA can devote more resources to the general screening line. The result will be faster processing times for all travellers — win-win.

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