Mr. Speaker, I would like to relate a story to the House of Commons about something that happened to me this morning and to my leader as well.
We waited in an airport security lineup for over 30 minutes for dangerous articles such as nail clippers to be removed, boarded our aircraft and had a wonderful breakfast. They gave us a serrated knife to cut our eggs and our meat. Surely there is a bit of hypocrisy here in terms of our airline security.
The United States has moved very quickly to remove all metal cutlery from all aircraft within its borders. We in Canada, due to the circumstances of September 11, should take all precautions necessary and remove immediately from our aircraft any metal cutlery or metal objects that could pose any hazard to passengers.
As well, we call upon the government to take over complete control of pre-flight screening for boarding in every airport throughout the entire country as well as to initiate a process whereby all cargo and baggage is thoroughly x-rayed and reviewed before it goes onto the aircraft.