Madam Speaker, I rise with great pleasure to discuss Bill S-23.
I represent the Halifax airport and one of the concerns I have is that many times the Halifax airport authority has asked the transport minister and the revenue minister about getting pre-clearance at the airport. This is something that the Ottawa airport, the Vancouver airport and other airports have. It is vital to the movement of U.S.A. passengers for them to have the convenience of being pre-cleared through the Halifax airport very quickly and expeditiously to the United States. All the authority is asking for is fairness, something that other airports in Canada have. In fact other airports that do not have it will probably be seeking this as well. We hope the minister, or at least his department, will take that under advisement to see how we can very quickly move that issue forward.
Also, when any bill of this nature comes forward it does absolutely no good unless it has full consultation with and support of the men and women at customs, the frontline workers, more or less the unionized workers. Again we encourage the government to ensure that the union is in lockstep with this measure, to ensure that union voices are heard, to ensure that their concerns have been brought forward as well.
The minister mentioned that there are about 130 additional employees being hired. In reality, within two years probably 300 to 400 employees will be lost through retirement. Therefore those losses will not have been offset at all. It would be prudent of the minister to go on a serious recruiting drive to encourage young people to get into the customs field and to become highly trained. The numbers should be in the 1,200 to 1,500 range, which is what is required to meet the new security measures post-September 11.
No matter what program we put in place we have to make sure that the movement of perishable goods, especially just in time goods, is not hindered by the actions on September 11. It is imperative as the two economies become more closely linked that the movement of goods and services is done correctly, quickly and efficiently and that both sides of the border are respected by both governments.
My former colleague, Mr. Peter Mancini from Cape Breton, raised in the House many times the divestiture of ports police in Canada to the normal city police, as was done in Vancouver, British Columbia and in my hometown of Halifax.
We argued at the time that it was wrong to do that. We felt that the ports police had to be specialized, a separate unit on its own, in tandem with government. The last time I heard any statistics on it, customs or the police check about 2 out of every 100 containers that come into the Halifax port. That is simply not good enough and is insufficient to say the least. We encourage the government to rethink that policy of the divestiture of ports police. It should reinstate the ports police, give them the training, adequate resources and personnel that is required so we can ensure that the goods and services that enter into our ports are properly checked and screened.
I am appalled that not so much the minister but his department would put a gag order on senior officials of the customs and excise union. It is simply unacceptable in this day and age of co-operation, open dialogue and transparency. “I want to be clear on what I would like to do” is what we always hear from the government front bench. At the same time that the ministers talk about openness and transparency, they tell their officials to put gag orders on the senior officials of the union.
I have a letter from Serge Charette, the national president of CEUDA, to the revenue minister, dated October 5. It clearly states that the union would like the gag order removed from its employees and rescinded.
In conclusion, I seek unanimous consent from all parties of the House of Commons to table the letter from the union to the minister so that it can be on the public record.