Notes for Remarks by Jacques Duchesneau, C.M., President and CEO, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts

Thank you for inviting me to speak with you today.

This is the first time that CATSA has appeared before the Standing Committee on Public Accounts. We should introduce ourselves properly.

CATSA has been operating since April 1, 2002. The Authority is a Crown corporation. It reports to Parliament through the Minister of Transport.

As part of the aviation security system, CATSA is one of many layers. Air travellers see us on the front line at 89 airports. Behind the scenes, we work very closely with our partners in aviation security. These partners include intelligence and law-enforcement agencies, airlines, airport authorities, and Transport Canada.

Transport Canada sets policy and regulates air transport security. Our role is to operate an effective security screening system.

CATSA has six specific responsibilities. We screen passengers and their carry-on baggage. We screen checked baggage. We screen non-passengers accessing restricted areas. We have introduced a biometric based ID card that will be used to ensure the identity of airports workers. We pay the RCMP to place its officers on selected flights, and we pay eligible airports to contract with police services for effective aviation security.

In implementing those six responsibilities last year, CATSA prevented 738,000 prohibited items from reaching aircraft cabins, enabling about 40 million passengers to travel with confidence and peace of mind.

Security is our top priority and we welcome any input that helps us to do our job better. The Auditor General's report, before you now, is very helpful to us.

The Auditor General focused her work on Transport Canada and its responsibilities within the national security system. CATSA worked very closely with the Office of the Auditor General. Her report, and our discussions with her officials, provided us with valuable advice.

You may be interested to know that we are in the middle of another audit right now. A team from the International Civil Aviation Organization arrived in Ottawa this week to measure Canada's performance against world standards. I look forward to receiving those results toward the end of the year.

This point bears repeating. We welcome scrutiny. Close inspection enables us to prevent errors. In our work, there is no room for error. If we make mistakes, then people can die.

Since 2002, we have improved continuously. We have improved the training and performance of screening officers, and implemented state-of-the-art systems and equipment. We will continue to improve our effectiveness.

The Auditor General drew our attention to our relationship with Transport Canada. We take her concerns seriously and have already taken actions to fix the problems.

We are tracking our compliance letters better than before, as the Auditor General has already noted. We now reply to every letter and take all actions required to provide effective security.

I am particularly pleased that the Auditor General praised our results in deploying equipment to screen baggage and detect explosives. It may interest you to know that we are managing over 100 Explosive Detection System (EDS) projects to enhance air transport security and expect to complete our projects ahead of schedule and under budget.

So we are doing better.

I have one final point. I have heard some people suggest that our system is not 100% perfect. I agree that it is not. And I suggest that it never will be.

A security system can never be fail-safe. We could never afford a system of 100% complete security, because such a security system would destroy the very thing it tried to protect.

But there is such a thing as a security system that anticipates the unexpected and manages it successfully. In step with our partners, our business is to detect terrorist capabilities, deter them, react effectively to incidents, and recover from them so that we return to normal.

Throughout, we are always learning. Security is always a work in progress.

Our goal should be an aviation security system that effectively protects the public and wins their confidence.

That is why we work continuously to improve air security so passengers can fly with confidence and have peace of mind. It is, and always will be, our top priority.

I look forward to your questions.