Mr. Speaker, it was with some expectation and thanks that we saw a bill come before us regarding public safety. After the tragic events of September 11 many of us were left uneasy as to how to approach the issue. We want our citizens to still have the right to travel and the right to privacy. We do not want them to have their civil liberties totally stripped away. I am happy to say a number of the committees within the House of Commons have been working on the issue from the time they got back in September.
There is no question, as the minister stated, about the immediate response on September 11 by airports, airline officials and the communities that took in huge numbers of people who were left stranded. They did it gallantly. We all owe them great thanks because in spite of everything that happened after September 11 it came off rather smoothly in Canada.
It is disappointing that after the minister's hype about how the bill would show us where public safety is he has tabled a bill this morning with no meat and potatoes in it.
As my colleague from the Bloc mentioned, the bill would give a lot more powers to ministers and their directed officials. Does it tell us what the government would do for airport security? No, it does not. It mentions that the government would do something about cockpit doors and make sure there are charges for people if there is air rage and those kind of things.
There are some things in the bill. There is no question that the bill would affect a number of acts within parliament, and rightfully so. We recognize that it had to do that. We had to have something that would address bioterrorism and be able to stop terrorists from proceeding in this manner. There is no question we had to do it.
However the bill does not tell Canadians what would happen. I am disappointed because despite all the minister's hype in the last few days that is not there. That is what Canadians want to see. They want to know exactly what would happen.
The transport committee has been hearing numerous witnesses over the past while. Almost every witness has said the key to fighting terrorism and stopping incidents like this from happening is profiling. What did we hear this morning? That is not even one of the major issues the government is dealing with. It was stated at the committee that the government does not understand or know enough about it. The minister will therefore dedicate $750,000 to look at the security measures that are needed.
The security of our airports or other areas should not be left to the Minister of Transport or the Department of Transport. It is crucially important that the people who know the business of security, such as the justice department and the solicitor general's office, are should be dealing with security.
We heard time and again at the transport committee that there was not a working relationship between different jurisdictional officers at airports. There are security guards operating under the airlines. Airports hire security for their perimeters. Some places have RCMP and some have provincial police. Nobody seems to be in charge of the picture.
Does the bill do anything to address that? Does it tell Canadians what would happen? Does it ensure their confidence in the security of our airline industry? There is not a chance that it does. The people who know about security, profiling and how to fight terrorism should be looking after the security of our airports. That is the crucial point.