Who IS in charge of Canadian Airport Security?

With the latest bombing attempts, in the United States, and the sudden beefing up of Airport Security everywhere, I wonder, just who is in charge of our safety when travelling by air?

I suppose I am naive, because until I read todays article, I always assumed that it was the RCMP, the national police force, that was in charge of Airport Security. I really did, because after all, isn’t that what a national police force does? Offer security to the citizens? I guess I was wrong, and after reading more about the story, I am even more confused than ever.

Seems that the RCMP & Local Law Enforcement Agencies will be allowed to HELP the existing security forces, in screening and other procedures, to protect passengers. We even have a agency, just like Big Brother in the States, but I wonder, who runs that agency?

Transport Canada has said it authorized the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) to use RCMP and local police officers to assist with some procedures specific to the screening process “to alleviate the immediate pressures at the security checkpoint.” ( source – CBC News )

So is CATSA run by the Government or is it another Private Firm / Organization that has been hired to protect us from the nasty terrorists? And is the people hired by CATSA government trained, or are they private firms hired to provide the necessary personnel? If the latter, what training are they given, if any?

I know in the United States everything is PRIVATELY RUN. A government agency oversees it, but then the US Military even uses PRIVATE FIRMS for security of its Generals in Iraq, so I wonder, why do they even have a military?  Why is there an FBI or an RCMP, if a Private Firm is so much better at providing security. Why not hire them to do law enforcement too. After all, they are supposed to be better trained, equipped, and no Government Union to demand unreasonable wages.

Privatization can be good, in certain areas. HOWEVER, the Conservative push to make EVERYTHING RUN UNDER PRIVATE OWNERSHIP IS WRONG & DANGEROUS. I mean just look at how well it worked in the United Statesl. It was PASSENGERS who managed to subdue a would be bomber, and NOT THE SECURITY PERSONNEL WHO STOPPED HIM FROM GETTING ABOARD.

AND YET ISN’T THAT WHAT THEIR JOB IS SUPPOSED TO BE?  PREVENTION?

Seems to me, that across the world, Government has been pushed to opt out of its responsibilities to its citizens. One of the worst legacies of the Bush Era is that drive to privatization, at any costs. The result has been an endless war in Iraq and Afghanistan. A drive that helped turn the world’s economy into a shambles, as it gave business supreme power, ignoring any regulations to keep them honest.  And now security of nations, is at risk, because it is more important to keep costs down, and use Private Firms to keep the Airports & Airplanes safe.

Yet, all that time, money, has accomplished nothing, but increase the risk to the citizen. Don’t get me wrong, because in some instances Privately run organizations can do an amazing bit of good. The problem isn’t that, but in that it requires proper Government Oversight. And with the drive to privatization, Conservatives are forgetting that important aspect. IF you want a private firm to take over, it still needs to be MONITORED.

Like Self Regulation DOES NOT WORK.  Prime examples are todays Food Recalls, Product Recalls, that are a DIRECT RESULT OF SELF REGULATION FAILING THE CONSUMER. The same holds true for SECURITY, and in other areas of our society.

The whole matter of our diplomat, Richard Colvin, and his testimony before Parliament makes me wonder at our education system, and how conditioned we are, by the media, by the attack philosophy of Mr. Harper & his party. I mean come on people, we are talking about a country, that was under Taliban rule for a long time. A country rooted in a culture, where torture is not exactly foreign to them.

I mean too, we have to understand, that this nation, Afghanistan, was, and is not, a Western Democracy. It has been invaded, conquored many times, and ruled by a lot of people, who were basically dictators. So if we are willing to assume that people like the Taliban tortured their own citizens, that Hugo Chavez does that, why are we so quick to assume that the current regime there isn’t?

In a different time and place, we were no different. I mean look at the Inquisition and how torture was used, all in the name of GOD, and so we are surprised that it is still being used in nations like Afghanistan? Get real folk, and stop hiding your heads in the sand.

Colvin told a Commons committee in November that all detainees transferred by Canadians to Afghan prisons were likely tortured by Afghan officials. He also said that his concerns were ignored by top government officials. ( source – CBC News )

For anyone to not believe that, is like saying Hitler was a nice guy, except for when he tried to rule the world. I mean really, torture is something that does really happen in this world. It isn’t that far away, as even the United States admits to using torture, even if they call it something else. Hell, we don’t have to go back too many decades to see how law enforcement used torture tactics with alleged criminals. I mean the story of rubber hoses, isn’t exactly new, now is it?

IF, we truly believe in our Democracy, in the principles of it, we should abhor torture, and the use of it. Yet, we make excuses daily, for allowing some form of torture, as a means to protect our society. That is the reality, and here in Canada, we are seeing a Government hell bend on protecting us, at the risk of our humanity, and of our principles. To attack a man, for telling what WE SHOULD KNOW ALREADY, is just plain wrong.

Richard Colvin merely told us, what we should know, what we are refusing to acknowledge. Torture is rampant in that part of the country, so why would anyone expect that a nation at war, would suddenly change its philosophy, simply because it has our support? That doesn’t make it suddenly reject all of its past, just as our own culture is rooted in the past.

What is really happening with this entire affair, is that Mr. Harper doesn’t want us to face the truth, of the reality of fighting terrorists. He doesn’t want to admit, that our hands are as dirty as those we are fighting, and that our allies, are anything less than spic and span clean. Truth is, we have lost our way, have disregarded our own principles, because people like George Bush, Stephen Harper, Tony Blair, have made us afraid.

It is no different than the Spanish Inquisition, that made us fear those who are different, and who used, & justified, inhumane acts, all in the name of preserving the faith.  We really haven’t advanced that much, have we?

Just like Stephen Harper never got the letters from Schreiber about Mulroney and the bribes, Peter McKay says he never saw the memos about people our troops turned over to the Afghans.

“I have not seen those reports in either my capacity as minister of National Defence or previously as minister of Foreign Affairs,” MacKay told The Canadian Press in a telephone interview from Halifax ( CBC News )

It is typical of the Harper Regime to hide the truth, or so it seems. Three letters never made it to the Prime Minister, because his staff vetted them, or so he says, and so he was in the dark about the bribe allegations to Brian Mulroney. NOW we have Peter McKay, the one who sold out the Conservative Party to Mr. Harper & the Alliance party, claiming he never saw any of the SEVENTEEN OR SO MEMOS, detailing the abuse.

It would seem to me, that (A), if he didn’t see those memos, then someone needs to be fired from their position, in his staff. How do you NOT show those type of memos to your political master?  (B), if he did see them, and do nothing, then he should be FIRED FROM GOVERNMENT. After all, how do you sanction TORTURE?

Oh wait, I know, you claim it is done safely.

Today you need a proper secure ID to enter the Good Old Land of the Free, Home of the Brave, which means a passport, or one of those fancy enhanced driver’s licenses, or your birth certificate and some other stuff. 

Interesting isn’t it, that Canadians require such proof to enter the United States, but those entering from Mexico, well, they get to walk across anywhere they please, work, buy homes if they can, and send billions back to Mexico, without any restrictions. Hell if they get caught, and send home, they are usually back in the USA within 24 hours.

Funny, if you think about it. People going south to buy stuff, have to prove they are Canadians, while those entering to provide cheap labor to business, don’t.  Makes you wonder, what kind of crazy world we live in.

With the airline industry in turmoil, due to both the high cost of fuel, and today’s mild recession, or so our Finance Minister calls it, you would think that is enough to make people not want to fly. Yet, add another reason, if you happen to be non white, or outspoken against the Harper Government, and that is the no fly list.

Under Stephen Harper we don’t support Canadian Citizens abroad, anymore, unless they are white, good god fearing Christians, in which case they have a place in Harper’s Canada, otherwise, forget it.

For the last eleven months, a Canadian citizen has been sleeping on a cot, in our Sudanese Embassy, being fed by them too, because somehow he got on the Bush UN Terror List, which barred him from travel. Now, it makes you wonder, how he was able to fly there, to begin with, and how after a comedy of errors, that left him destitute, beaten, and now without a country, he would still want to come back here.

A married father of three, Abdelrazik was picked up by police for alleged ties to al-Quaeda during a visit to his ailing mother in Khartoum in 2003. ( source – CBC News )

What is rather appalling, is that after being cleared of this charges, he still was forced to camp out in our embassy. That and that in 2006 the Bush Administration added his name to their no fly list, without any details to support their claim, that he is associated with terrorists.

After stating that the Harper Government would re issue his passport, and allow him back in, if he got a paid ticket, they now refuse to honor their own word. Instead they cite his name being on the terrorist list by Bush, which they even tried to have removed. Kind of makes you wonder, what the hell is going on.

He is a citizen, and that should be enough. However, the man is a Muslim, and is Black, so there is the reason. Cannon and his fellow conservatives can argue otherwise, but their actions speak volumes.

Being Jewish, being Gay, one gets a sense of what racism is like. It is in our history, and you can bet the farm, this smacks of racism. How dare a democratically elected government make a committment, then renege on it, simply because a failed administration believes the guy is a terrorist. This isnt about being a bleeding heart, or some social wannabee, this is about the rights of being a citizen of a democracy.

Both the RCMP & CSIS have cleared him of having ties with any terrorist group, and yet, because of the Bush Administration, Harper’s regime won’t accept that? I mean come on, if we can’t even accept the decisions of our own police, our own intelligence agency, then why do we even have them? Let us save all the cash they cost us, disband them, and just follow whatever the CIA and FBI tell us.  I mean obviously, their word seems to hold more weight with Cannon, and his boss, Harper.

That should make Flaherty happy, because he can save a few extra dollars, and maybe even add another corporate tax cut point or two.

How our idea of what is democratic, what freedom means, has changed since the election of Canada’s own ersatz copy of George W. Bush, Stephen Harper.  Wonder, if he was Prime Minister during the 1930’s, would we have supported England, or would we have joined the Axis, with Hitler?