Yesterday afternoon, CBC anchor Peter Mansbridge interviewed Prime Minister Stephen Harper. A transcript prepared by the PMO was distributed to some Parliamentary Press Gallery members. Here's an excerpt in which Harper talks about the full body scanners to be installed at Canadian airports, news that made the front page of just about every newspapers in the country.
Peter Mansbridge: Let me start with what was announced today, the new security measures at airports, because it seems to me that the question becomes what does this say about nine years after the war on terror began that increased security at airports is needed to prevent another threat. What does that say about the times we live in right now?
Prime Minister Stephen Harper: Well, I’m not sure when you sit back it really says anything that surprising, Peter. I don’t think any of us thought these threats would go away, and the threats seem to be mutating somewhat, and authorities, obviously beginning with authorities in the United States and whatever happens there, as you know, and security has tremendous effects on our air travel, that we have to keep adapting. It’s my hope that as we adapt, we find smart and, you know, relatively efficient ways to adapt, but that’s what we’re going to have to keep doing. Obviously the incident around Christmas, you know, brought in a whole new series of dimensions that governments are going to have to adjust to.
Mansbridge: It’s interesting, that Christmas threat, because the Americans have basically admitted that was their problem. That was their issue, their mistake, and this person getting through their screening process, and yet it’s affecting everyone. We’re basically having to change our rules because of a mistake they made.
Harper: Well, I guess what I would say is we face common threats. I wouldn’t want to say that what happened there could not happen here, and obviously if they’re going to undertake steps to address that kind of threat in the future, we’re going to look at those threats and examine whether we should take similar measures. We don’t have to take identical measures, but we certainly have to undertake measures that would prevent any similar kind of threat in Canada, and you know, I mean the first priority – I know these cause tremendous inconveniences for everybody, but the first priority ultimately has to be the safety and security of the Canadian air traveller and of our airport facilities, and we know that unfortunately these things are at risk in this day and age.
Mansbridge: The scanner issue is one that was studied for 18 months. The Privacy Commissioner ruled on it. But there are other things that have been happening over these past couple of weeks since the Christmas issue, and I’m wondering how you figure on that balance between, you know, security and the rights of an individual. We’ve seen, you know, a list of countries being made, questions being raised about racial profiling. Does any of this worry you, that…?
Harper:: Well, these are all things that factor into our considerations. We have privacy laws in Canada. We have court decisions. As you know, our courts have tended to be less deferential to governments on security matters than courts in the United States. This is something the government has to factor into any security measures it undertakes, and obviously there are issues of treating people fairly, of treating people equally, of balancing privacy concerns with the ultimate goal that we must protect and we must make sure the travelling public is safe.
Mansbridge: Did you think any of those are being crossed right now?
Harper: Well, we haven’t done, in fairness, Peter, we haven’t done a thorough examination of exactly what measures the US has undertaken and how we’re going to apply them to Canada. We’re going to look at those one at a time, and we may arrive at some different judgements or we may not, but all of those things will be factored into our decision-making.
Mansbridge: When you see a list of countries, some of which we, you know, have normal relations with, does that bother you?
Harper: Well, I go back. I don’t think it’s about diplomatic relations. You know, we have the same thing with the visa problem. It’s not about diplomatic relations. These are often about other considerations. It ultimately in this case has to be about the possibility of a security threat and dealing with that. But as I say, we’re going to take a look at these measures very carefully, and we may arrive at different conclusions. The one concern I do have about all of this is I…and I’ve expressed this to American leaders. I see what I call the gun registry approach to a lot of security issues, which is let’s just put everybody on a list, register everything, and we know from our own experience with our gun registry that this is not necessarily the smartest and most effective way to actually identify real threats. And so it’s my hope as we look at these things, which you know, invariably will cause some changes in mass procedure, that we make sure that we respond in ways that are intelligent, ways that effectively identify threats before they happen as opposed to simply massive bureaucratic sets of rules or procedures, which I think in and of themselves are of limited value.
Mansbridge: Have you suggested that to President Obama?
Harper: I can’t remember. I know I certainly had that conversation with President Bush. I can’t recall whether I’ve had it with President Obama, but I’ve had it with a series of American officials.
Tags: Stephen harper, united states, security, body scanners, airports