Stop Air Canada From Tarnishing Our Country's Reputation Abroad!

Much had been said about the man who bluffed his way onto an Air Canada flight from Hong Kong, with a mask of an elderly white man. The media is implying that this shows a failing on the part of the Canada Border Services Agency. The fact of the matter is, it was Air Canada, and the airport security officials in Hong Kong who hold responsibility. The blame is squarely on them for letting the man onto the plane, and while the Government is not free of responsibility, blame where blame is due.

In recent months, the Federal Government has backed Air Canada, damaging relations with our allies over-seas. The United Arab Emirates, offended by the Feds decision to leave Air Canada with an almost monopoly on flights in and out of the UAE lead directly to Canadian troops being kicked out of Camp Mirage. The same issue is also responsible for Canada’s embarrassing failure to get a seat at the UN. The government’s response was to blame Michael Ignatieff. The fact of the matter is, while the leader of the Liberal party is somewhat like a robot, and not a great choice as a leader of the nation, he does not have the power that the government was trying to pin on him. It was incompetence within the current administration, with regards to foreign affairs.

Air Canada has been given too much support, and allowed too much leeway, not only by the current government, but by its predecessors as well. CBSA managed to detain the man as soon as he landed in Vancouver, but how was he able to get on the flight? Air Canada should be doing their jobs, following Canadian legislation, and actually checking the appropriate forms of ID. The staff members responsible should lose their jobs. Air Canada should be held accountable. The security concerns should be raised with the Chinese officials, as the man was allowed into the boarding area with a disguise kit, and able to trade boarding passes with another passenger.

Why is our great country being exposed to such shame, so that Air Canada, renowned for high costs, low service, and general ineptitude, can have an unhealthy level of government support? The security issues are not the fault of the government, but the climate which allowed this incident, favouritism by the government for this infamously inept airline, clearly is. That is the issue that needs to be addressed. The man had not cleared through Canadian Customs with the mask on. He put it on before getting on the plane, took it off on the plane, and was detained upon landing. Point the finger at Air Canada over this; it was civilian staff who were too lazy and incompetent to do their jobs. The Government needs to answer for other flaws, but they did handle this to the best of their ability, considering the situation. Yes, the fact that Air Canada has been consistently propped up by Canadian governments, and that should stop. The current relationship with the UAE demonstrated that, more acutely, but was all but swept aside,  by other failings that caught the news. This is a farce, and not one the government was directly responsible. Let Air Canada pay to take care of the man, until he can be dealt with by the courts. He should be deported, other, legitimate refugees wait their turn, what right has he got to jump the queue? But that is another issue.