Canadian airport security measures in federal budget raise concerns

You’ll have to pay up in order to improve security lines at Canadian airports.

The federal budget lays out measures to make airport visits more efficient, but advocates for both airlines and passengers are disappointed with what’s being proposed.

According to these advocates, there is good news and bad news with the federal approach in the fiscal plan.

On the one hand, the federal government is pumping $1.8 billion into making airport security screening more efficient. However, on the other hand, security fees paid by travellers will be going up by as much as 33 per cent to help pay for that.

Ian Jack, the vice president of public affairs at the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA), tells CityNews this is a federal responsibility. He feels the government should shoulder the cost, not passengers.

“We feel that’s a bit much at this point. The system is not working very well — we prefer the government actually get the system fixed before they start adding to the price of airline tickets,” Jack said.

“Our government hasn’t been holding up its end of the bargain, which is running a good system, and we don’t know why they want to reward themselves by taking more money from travellers right now, upping the price of air tickets.”

But Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is defending the approach, arguing it should be the people using the system who should be paying a chunk of this cost.

“We think targeting it in the right way, in a reasonable way, is the right thing to make sure that air travel remains efficient and affordable,” Trudeau explained.

“[Travellers] are shouldering a little bit more of that burden because the alternative would be all Canadians contributing with their tax dollars.”

Related articles: 

• What really matters in 2023’s federal budget?

• Feds $491B budget invests in clean electricity, healthcare and expanded dental care

• Canadian transport agency to fine major airlines over travel chaos

In addition to his concerns about the cost being offloaded to passengers, Jack worries the move may be a disincentive for people to travel as the industry continues to try to recover from COVID-19 restrictions.

“Any additional cost on the system right now is not a good idea, given that it needs a lot of fixing. We have perilously low service levels right now in this country, there’s a lot of work to be done, and any increase in price indeed could tilt things,” Jack said.

The National Airlines Council of Canada (NACC) has also expressed its disappointment.

“At a time when the federal government is looking for ways to enhance the passenger travel experience, it is disappointing that the Budget included no significant measures to improve the journey,” NACC President and CEO Jeff Morrison said in a statement Tuesday after the budget was unveiled.

According to Morrison, the budget was a “missed opportunity” for the government to improve air travel in Canada.

“As one of the hardest hit industries during the COVID pandemic, NACC hoped for more concrete measures to strengthen the overall air travel system through investment to support infrastructure modernization,” Morrison said.

While the council is taking issue with the budget, it notes there are some positives. They include funding under the Canada Growth Fund to incentivize biofuel development in the country, which Morrison says will “start to flow in the first half of 2023.”

“The Budget also supports tourism with $108 million over 3 years to support local tourism events, and $50 million to Destinations Canada to attract major events to Canada. The Budget will provide $1.8 billion over 5 years to the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) to maintain and increase its level of service, improve screening wait time and strengthen security measures at airports – although this funding will be offset by an increase in the ATSC,” Morrison’s statement continued.

Read more: Canada transport minister pledges to close passenger compensation loophole used by airlines

Meanwhile, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he’s pleased to see the Trudeau Liberals invest more than $1 billion over five years to security screening improvements to reduce delays. However, he joins others in saying he is disappointed these measures will fall on the backs of travellers.

“We need to protect consumers, protect those that are travelling by air,” Singh said.

This comes as the transport minister continues to work on new legislation to improve air passenger rights in Canada.