OTTAWA — Opposition MPs on the Commons public safety committee have voted down a Conservative proposal to look at air traveller screening, dismissing it as cheap political fearmongering.
Opposition members said the transport committee is already looking at aviation security and can take on the screening issue — a move that prompted the Tories to accuse them of ducking an important safety issue.
A recent video posted on YouTube appears to show two women boarding a transatlantic Air Canada flight in Montreal without being asked to lift their veils to check faces against passport photos.
The Transport Department says Canadian airlines must have procedures to verify the identity of any person whose face is covered.
The committee convened Tuesday after four Conservative MPs requested a meeting “as soon as possible” to determine whether airlines are properly confirming the identity of passengers.
The Liberals said a study was premature given that former transport minister John Baird ordered an investigation of the matter that’s still ongoing. The Commons transport committee has already held 20 hours of hearings on air security, they added, making it the place to look at checks.
Liberal public safety critic Mark Holland said the Conservatives brought the issue to the wrong committee.
“They’ve got a lot of political troubles, and they’re trying to raise the spectre of security,” he said.
Conservative MP Shelly Glover, one of the four who asked for the meeting, confronted Holland after the meeting.
“Play the games elsewhere,” she told him. “Canadians care about this.”