Canada bolsters air travel security

Canada’s federal state minister (transport) Rob Merrifield has announced more than $350-million in funding to boost security at airports across the country.

Ottawa is “committed to the security of our airports and the people who use them,” he told reporters the other day at Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. That includes almost $243 million in new funding for the Canadian Air Transportation Security Authority (CATSA) for its operations and to hire more screening and oversight officers.

Merrifield said new measures, including $12.8 million for portable screening machines for the 2010 Olympics and Paralympics in Vancouver, which will keep Canada’s security systems up to date with other countries around the world.

There will also be heightened security on the tarmac and baggage handling areas outside airport terminals.

“New equipment will help an awful lot with regard to screening not only at the Vancouver Olympics, or Vancouver area airport, but right across the country,” Merifield said. “We’re making significant changes there, making sure that the focus is on the Olympics, that it is all about the athletes. CATSA will be ready, security will be tight.” New funding includes:

• $25 million for 125 new x-ray units at airports in Toronto, Edmonton, Vancouver, Montreal and Winnipeg
• $6 million for 18 new screening lanes at those airports
• $9.2 million for biometric technology to screen non-passengers and vehicles at restricted airport areas

Merrifield said the government is “making sure we’re not the weak link in technology and the way we do security in Canada. “That’s the last thing we want,” he said. “We don’t want to be a target in any way, shape or form and so we’re beefing things up to make sure that we’re as safe as America, as safe as Europe or any other country in the world.”