Great idea! After all, it isn't as if there are any jihadists in Canada.
By Greg Quinn for Bloomberg (thanks to Twostellas):
Nov. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Canada asked the U.S. to exempt passengers on overseas flights that cross U.S. airspace from checks against watch lists, saying the nations already cooperate on air security and the checks may violate privacy.Already, flights between Canadian cities that cut through U.S. airspace to save time are exempt from the Department of Homeland Security's planned `Secure Flight Program,' Canadian Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon said today in a statement. Canada filed a written request for the broader exemption.
``In light of our complementary security systems and the security cooperation of Canada and the United States, and the relative risk, we believe that there are excellent security grounds for the proposed Secure Flight Program to exempt all flights to, from and within Canada that overfly the United States,'' Cannon said from Ottawa.
Canada also is worried the U.S. may gather information on Canadians without their consent, a principle ``central'' to the country's privacy laws, according to a background paper that accompanied the statement. The U.S. list might be used to track people ``beyond those who pose a threat to aviation security,'' the paper said.
That's a legitimate concern. So also, of course, is the possibility of jihadists entering the U.S. from Canada.
you damm yankees are getting perinoid again
"...may violate privacy..."
That's the same suicidally-stupid 'reasoning' that kept the FBI from examining the 20th hijacker Moussaoui's computer hard-drive before 9/11.
And the same privacy Law that stopped Canada Customs from forcing Maher Arar to give the PassWord for the Laptop PC he tried to smuggle into Canada.
The majority of whiners in Canada that are upset are the Islamic groups and new Immigrants that don't want their past to be exposed , this I'm guessing as coming from the fear that Canada will find out about the Big Lies they told to get into canada as a Victim of abuse by the Country they fled.
It's all very simple , I don't fly to Saudi Arabia because I don't agree with the way I'd be treated , and if some new comers in Canada are bothered by the USA rules for flying bombs over their Office Towers then just don't vacation in Cuba or Mexico .
Maybe the anger is because it shuts the door to Refugee and Human smuggling by giving your return flight ticket to an Illegal with forged papers while the scam artist flies back via the USA once they cross into a but a Ticket back to Toronto or Montreal.
Amazing how visiting the USA has become a Human Right for all immigrants to canada.
This is why I'm very concerned about Maher Arar wanting the Right to get into the USA which he claims he hates and sent him to Syria to be Tortured by hisown Government.
I do not believe that Canadian flights should be excempted. If the flights are excempted, then terrorists could board them with no way to stop them.
A high-jacked Canadian plane flying over US territory could be used to strike an important landmark or even a nuclear reactor. We best tread carefully here.
Aviation security is not the only threat these people pose to the U.S. If they are on a watch list, they need to be "watched" wherever they go.
Pure overflights, many of which just snip a corner of northern Michigan, pose no risk to the US surface in the form of "jihadists entering the US". To the extent that hijacked canadian airplanes could be a hazard, that does not materially change because it crossed the border legitimately.
You can't be careful enough.
The real question has to do with Canada's airline screening program. If they maintain lists similar to ours and the flight is not landing in the USA then our concerns are covered.
However, if a landing at an American airport is involved, then our TSA and FBI folks need to see Who is What. One of the legacies of the British Empire is the existance of hundreds of thousand valid passports held by Muslims. Now, if only one in a thousand Muslims have bought into radical Islam, then the Problem is merely thousands of radical Islamists with valid passports.
I heard the term "Inadequate Paranoia" which could fit this situation. That means you think there might be a problem and then start looking closer only to find out that the situation is even worse than you imagined.