Really, when we talk about those within the country who could be required for a transportation security clearance, it's not simply drivers, but those who handle or transport dangerous goods. It could be people in warehouses. A whole variety of people could fit under this bill. It is fairly large in scope as it stands.
Of course we had evidence as well from the Trucking Association that they would like to see a single transportation security clearance. So what we're going to see in this country is if that pattern that's being put forward under this bill follows, we would have a single transportation security clearance decided by the requirements we have for transporting into the United States. That, to me, seems to be out of line.
We heard evidence too that much of the transportation security clearance is around the criminal record check, whereas if you look at the incidents of terrorism in North America, perhaps in the rest of the world, very few of those, if any, were people who would have been identified with a criminal records check.
We're looking at a system that really may not even fill the bill, but we're going to give authority to the minister to extend this right through the whole transportation column where it comes into contact with dangerous goods. And you know most warehouses are not assigned simply for dangerous goods. Most trucking companies transport a variety of goods, sometimes dangerous goods, sometimes not. So we're going to see this entering much of the transportation industry if we don't look at how we can ensure this broad power being granted here can be limited.
When it comes to Canada, further on in this bill we're looking for anyone who's handling dangerous goods to provide a security plan. So the company is responsible for laying out exactly how it's going to provide security for the work it's doing. Of course, if a company is providing security, a great deal of the security will be its understanding of its own employees. So at another level within Canada we will have a system that will ensure the companies themselves will be responsible to ensure their employees meet a security level they institute under a security plan that will be reviewed by the department.
In reality, we're covered for security clearance for people in our country dealing with our own goods, because we have that under the security plan. We have the ability to lay out the requirements for the company to operate moving dangerous goods through a security plan. So we don't need the security clearance for people in our country, we can do it through another method.
By limiting it to what was projected for the bill, which was to deal with the issue of security clearances for international travel, we've also got it covered under the bill. Even with the amendment, the government will have the ability to ensure that security is held for Canadians and under a security regime that may be more appropriate to the goods they're handling in Canada, to the situation that exists in Canada. If you're handling nitroglycerine in Canada, I would assume the company that's handling it, in order to get insurance, will have to have a security plan that will outline what kinds of clearances its employees will go through, but if you're a farmer moving ammonia around the countryside, you won't necessarily have to meet the international transportation security clearance requirements.
Quite clearly, there are provisions within the bill to cover what has to be done in Canada. The transportation security clearances were designed to deal with the issue that we have internationally.
So the amendment will very much clarify that, and will continue to ensure that Canadian companies and Canadian workers are not unduly harassed by this government in the conduct of their work across this country. The amendment will maintain that. We have the ability to deal with individual companies within Canada, and we have the international commitment that we want.
I think the amendment is very practical. It simply brings it down to a scope such that we, as legislators, as protectors of the rights of Canadians and as protectors of our essential economic system here, will do our job.
