Madam Speaker, I stand before the House today in support of Bill C-17, an bill to promote the public safety of Canadians. Bill C-17 is an essential tool in the government fight against international and domestic crime and terrorism, and I respectfully suggest it should be supported by all members of Parliament as a key method of improving our public safety.
I would like to address the bill from the perspective of the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency and what we are doing. Of course security has always been a key priority of the government and the number one priority at the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. The CCRA has been working hard to balance this priority with the economic reality that trade and travel must flow just as freely as they do securely.
In order to ensure the free and secure flow of goods and people, the CCRA has embarked on a number of security initiatives, including setting up expedited passenger and goods processing programs at the land and air borders and enhancing screening abilities at all of Canada's ports of entry.
In the same way that Bill C-17 is enhancing public safety through updated legislation governing Transport Canada, the Solicitor General, Finance Canada and other departments, customs has been working for more than five years at developing and implementing a comprehensive plan to re-engineer its business and provide a more secure border for Canadians.
For example, together with the United States, we have developed the Nexus program to facilitate entry into both countries of pre-screened, pre-approved, low risk Canadians and Americans in private vehicles. Nexus is a joint program with Citizenship and Immigration Canada, the United States customs, the immigration and naturalization service and Canada Customs and Revenue Agency. Nexus users undergo a rigorous security screening process to ensure that they are not a risk to our country, and do not need to interact with a customs officer each time they enter the country. They use a traveller declaration card to declare imported goods and may charge any duties or taxes payable to a pre-authorized credit card account.
In my riding of Erie—Lincoln, in the Niagara Peninsula adjacent to the U.S. border at Buffalo, New York, this program was commenced 10 days ago with applications coming in at approximately 200 a day, which is a very strong response. This program will become operational at the Peace Bridge in December and at the Niagara Falls bridges approximately a month later. It also has just been instituted at the Windsor crossing.
Work is currently progressing with what is called the Nexus air and Canpass air programs. While Nexus air is a bi-national, four agency program for Canadian and American travellers, Canpass air is a program that we developed jointly with Citizenship and Immigration to facilitate the re-entry into Canada of pre-approved Canadians.
As another step toward ensuring public safety, CIC and CCRA are piloting joint passenger analysis units in Vancouver and Miami. U.S. and Canadian customs officers will now be working side by side with immigration counterparts at these locations to refine our mutual procedures for intercepting high risk travellers.
We have already made major improvements in identifying and screening high risk cargo before it arrives in either country. Joint targeting for in-transit marine containers arriving at sea ports in Canada and the U.S. has begun through the exchange of information and targeting officers. Launched last March, the U.S. customs inspectors are now working at the Vancouver, Montreal and Halifax container targeting units and Canadian inspectors are working at Newark and Seattle.
We are enhancing their efforts with state of the art technologies and other tools, including ion mobility spectrometers, which accurately detect drugs in about five seconds, and contraband detection kits which contain various apparatus to examine vehicles, luggage and shipments for contraband without damaging the goods.
The process in one situation is very simple. A cloth is rubbed over a steering wheel, the glove box, door handles or trunks looking for minute traces of drug dust. The cloth is then put under a monitor and if there is a positive reading a very thorough search of the vehicles commences. It is quick, efficient and effective.
CCRA has also equipped customs employees with laser range finders and other high tech devices that will facilitate their work. They are devices that can monitor the inside and outside lengths of transport trailers very quickly to ensure there is no false compartment.
In another application of new technology, we are installing vehicle and cargo inspection systems, commonly known as VACIS machines, at various customs locations. The mobile VACIS is a truck-mounted scanning system that captures an X-ray like image of the contents of an entire marine container or tractor trailer, as well as rail ships and air cargo. VACIS can quickly scan any of these modes of shipment to detect contraband, weapons and other dangerous goods while minimizing disruptions and costs for importers.
We are also fortunate in the Niagara region to be receiving a VACIS machine to enhance the security at our border crossings. These machines cost roughly $1 million. It now takes approximately four to six hours to offload a transport trailer for inspection, and that is without VACIS. With VACIS it will get the same inspection capabilities doing approximately eight inspections an hour.
The benefits are obvious: faster results, better utilization of staff, enhanced security because of the increased number of searches, and a happier transportation industry because these loads are not detained for any substantial length of time, all the while providing strong deterrents for those who might feel inclined to break our laws.
Using some of the most advanced technology in the world, customs officers have been able to detect contraband hidden in false bottom suitcases, boxes, statues, machine bolts, picture frames, toys and even pineapples.
To give members a sense of just how successful they have been, between January 1, 2001 and May 31, 2002, CCRA made over 1,236 significant drug seizures valued at nearly $547 million. In the Niagara region alone there have been 200 to 300 drug seizures since the beginning of its operational year in April. Drugs are not the only items of contraband. In fact, over $1 million of undeclared currency has been seized at the Niagara crossing in the previous operational year.
Our challenge as a government in advancing this agenda is ensuring that, while we take every measure to keep out of trouble, we do not impede legitimate trade or trample the democratic rights of our citizens. I can assure the House that these are issues we do not take lightly.
However, make no mistake, we must have the ability to identify and exclude those who pose a risk to Canada or a threat to the rest of the world. We have a duty to be prepared for the sort of catastrophe that can be brought upon by weapons of mass destruction. Given what is at stake, we cannot disregard any tool at our disposal to detect terrorists, contraband and criminals.
I am convinced that the compliance provisions factored into the government's policies and programs, including those in Bill C-17, address these dual concerns.
The essence of these provisions is that we will always welcome those who choose to comply with our country's laws and regulations. However we reserve the right to conduct periodic checks and audits to verify compliance in the interests of national security.
I wholeheartedly support Bill C-17 in this period of international uncertainty. It gives the public service the tools to protect Canada and to strengthen our public safety. I am confident that my colleagues in the House agree with this sentiment and will also vote to support this bill.
