Canada's Ports Security a Disgrace

Your recent (2002) articles on the gang-control of our ports scared me, as they should any decent person. Given the gangland intimidation ongoing there, it seems that terrorist-related incidents advancing through our ports are only a matter of time. When, not if!

For the port authorities and the unions to point the finger of blame at others – such as the police – disregards what an inviting target they’ve let the ports become. No rules forbidding gang-related memberships, no rules forbidding employing convicted criminals, no dismissal rules when loads are continually dropped! When 30-40% of the employees are convicted criminals or gang-members, you’ve got to know that the inmates are truly running the asylum. In short, the whole situation shows an appalling lack of leadership.

The union also appears to be insufficiently concerned by this whole disaster in waiting; this criminal element now represents a sizeable “constituency”. Perhaps the honest majority of union members are unable or unwilling to exert sufficient pressure to rid themselves of this element.

Finally, our distracted federal government has absolutely got to focus and concentrate on this. They need to pass “clean port laws”, disallowing criminals and gang-members any employment anywhere near any border trade. They need to give port managers some real tools to clean this up. In the end, if they can’t, then perhaps the unions need to be disbanded and everyone fired, just as Ronald Reagan did with the air-traffic controllers nearly two decades ago. Sometimes a clean start requires drastic measures.


... another random musing