I welcome your question, colleague. As a matter of fact, I'm very happy and very proud to say that we are doing something about it.
I don't want to berate the colleagues here around the table by saying that for a certain number of years Senator Kenny has indeed been indicating that nothing was done in terms of air cargo security, and we are doing something about it. My predecessor, of course, was well aware of this issue and was unable to secure any funds to do it.
On your fundamental question asking whether we as a government are spending money to be able to shore up safety and security, the answer is yes. We have committed--and I need not go back to the numbers--close to $300 million this year in that sector. We are going to do it not only at our airports to make sure we screen and scan cargo that goes on board the aircraft, but we're also doing it in areas that deal with public transportation.
You are aware, as I am, that the incidents in Madrid and London were extremely worrisome for a lot of people who use urban transit in this country, so we have put together and funded a program--which we'll be announcing quite shortly, incidentally--whereby a large number of our major Canadian transit authorities will be able to access funds that will enable them to better provide safety and security to their passengers or to their ridership; that should be done incessantly. I'm quite proud, as a matter of fact, Mr. McGuinty, to be able to say that we've done something.
I think you also indicated, if I use your quote, that things had been done by the previous government. What we have to be able to do, if we use that as a baseline or benchmark, is say we've done more. I think we're awfully proud of what we're doing. I am still committed to using public safety as the necessary benchmark, because at the end of the day, it's the public that uses the air, it's the public that uses the transit authority, it's the public that uses the marine systems in this country. As parliamentarians, our responsibility is to make sure those people use these services in the proper way, yes, but in a safe manner too.