Blame Customs not U.S. for gun influx: MacKay:
Date: Oct 26, 2005 7:37 AM
NOTE: Versions of this article also appeared in the following papers:
Ottawa Citizen, Montreal Gazette and Vancouver Sun.

PUBLICATION: National Post
DATE: 2005.10.26
EDITION: National
SECTION: News
PAGE: A1 / Front
BYLINE: Allan Woods
SOURCE: CanWest News Service
DATELINE: OTTAWACRIME
ILLUSTRATION: Newly obtained documents show Ottawa has increased border
bureaucracy and intelligence-gathering more than the number of border
guards at such crossings as the Detroit-Windsor tunnel, above.
WORD COUNT: 760

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Blame Customs not U.S. for gun influx: MacKay: Too few guards hired,
critics say

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OTTAWA – The Canada Border Services Agency has increased front-line
forces by just 10.9% since 1995, compared with a 100% boost in the
number of employees at Customs headquarters, newly obtained documents
show.

The figures, obtained by the federal Customs Excise Union under the
Access to Information Act and provided to CanWest News Service, have
prompted criticisms that Prime Minister Paul Martin is blaming the
United States for the proliferation of illegal handguns being smuggled
across the border when a large part of the problem lies in his own
domain.

“It rings hollow for the Prime Minister to be hectoring the U.S. on guns
being smuggled into Canada,” deputy Conservative leader Peter MacKay
said in an interview yesterday. “To that I say we better clean up our
own backyard and we better demonstrate to them that we take our security
seriously before we start asking them to do something about it.”

Mr. Martin said the United States has an “obligation” to do more to curb
the flow of U.S.-made handguns into the country, an issue he raised in a
meeting with U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on Monday night at
24 Sussex Drive.

He was speaking after several days of gun violence in Toronto, where 44
of 64 homicides this year have been caused by firearms. All but one of
them involved an illegal handgun.

Ms. Rice refused to comment on Mr. Martin’s contention that half of all
gun crimes committed in Canada involve U.S.-bought firearms, but said
her government is committed to strengthening both sides of the border.
“Obviously we want to help resolve issues concerning gun violence,” she
said. “We have been very involved with Canadian law enforcement trying
to do exactly that.”

But the staffing figures, which indicate Ottawa has increased border
bureaucracy and intelligence gathering, but not its on-the-ground border
guards, show it is Canada that must be more vigilant on the border,
critics charged.

Between 1995-96 and 2004-05, the border agency increased staffing at
international crossings across the country by 717 “full-time
equivalents” — from 6,603 to 7,320 — a 10.9% boost.

The highest increase was recorded in the Pacific region, where
front-line guards jumped 18.2%. The Prairies saw no increase at all in
the number of border guards protecting its crossings. The country’s
busiest border crossings, in Southern Ontario, saw a 12% increase –
from 2,420 to 2,711 FTE’s — between 1995 and 2005.

In contrast, the number of positions at the agency’s headquarters, which
include intelligence teams but no front-line officers, jumped more than
100% from 540 full-time equivalents in 1995-96 to 1,083 in 2002-03, the
last year for which numbers were provided.

“Nothing in my mind justifies the decision to double headquarters and
basically give table scraps to the regional offices. It defies logic.
It’s asinine in its priority,” Mr. MacKay said. “In an ideal world, you
need to have more of both, but if I was to be given the choice, I’d say
put more people on the ground and arm them.”

Officials in Public Safety Minister Anne McLellan’s office were unable
to account for the rapid increase in staffing at headquarters, but said
the department has changed significantly over the years, especially
since December, 2003, when the Canada Customs and Revenue Agency was
replaced by the CBSA, incorporating the Canadian Food Inspection Agency,
Citizenship and Immigration enforcement and intelligence teams, Revenue
Canada officials and other border-related responsibilities.

“There have been many changes in the way we manage our border service
since Sept. 11,” CBSA spokeswoman Amelie Morin said.

However, the creation of Integrated Border Enforcement Teams in the wake
of 9/11, are led in large part by the RCMP, a spokesman for Ms. McLellan
said.

Ron Moran, head of the union representing Canada’s border guards,
suggested the bulk of the increases noted at headquarters are
intelligence staff, which he said are important. But he accused the
government of augmenting its intelligence operations at the expense of
sentries on guard at Canadian crossings.

“It’s difficult to say they’re wasting money,” Mr. Moran said. “But
it
certainly raises a lot of concerns in terms of priority when you see
that type of contrast in investment and you look at how the operations
are aching in the field.”

Mr. Moran is calling for an armed border patrol to watch over the
desolate points between border crossings. “It’s a paradise for smuggling
in that there is nothing on the Canadian side.”

Public Safety officials noted the government has committed funding for
an extra 270 border guards over the next five years. In addition, the
border agency has committed 11 officers across the country to
gun-smuggling investigations, including two dedicated officers working
in Toronto.