Well, clearly, Mr. McGuinty, this bill doesn't address that specific issue. On the alleged infiltration of a reporter into the Trudeau airport in Montreal, of course I acted promptly and swiftly and instructed officials to inquire into the proceedings and to come back to me with information as to whether the system is functioning and did function correctly.
You know well, as I do, that in the case the report comes back, we do have a certain number of measures that can be applied, going from fines that can be levied to very stiff sanctions to the airport authorities as well as to those who play a major role in the security. That is an ongoing process.
As for the question dealing with personnel going into these areas, since 1986--this is not yesterday--the Government of Canada has been doing clearance work for all those people who wish to work in restricted areas of the airports. They are in a position to access information that will determine whether the individual does pose a risk to airport security or aviation security.
In the month of December, we will be putting in place a secure access system that will oblige everybody to have cards with them and to use these cards to access these areas. Those are ongoing.
As you mentioned in your radio interview two weeks ago, a lot has been done over the last three years. We are continuing in that direction. You know as well as I do that the Government of Canada, up to our election, had put in roughly $2.5 billion, if not $2.6 billion, into the security following 9/11--particularly in the aviation sector, which got a large chunk--and we have increased that amount of money by supporting CATSA with $133 million this year in our budget.
We have supported, also, an air cargo design program that I believe Senator Kenny had mentioned during some of his remarks previously, wherein he indicated that the former government should be involved. We've done that, so I feel quite proud of our mandate, and I feel quite proud of what we've done up to now in terms of making sure airport security and safety are uppermost and that Canadians can use that vehicle to go from one destination to another.