Commentary on sharing passenger manifests from Regina Leader Post

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Excerpts from U.S. pressure not surprising By Pamela Roth, Leader-Post; with files from Canwest News Service June 30, 2010

Colin Robertson isn’t surprised the United States is pressuring Canada to comply with a program that would give airline passenger information to the U.S. government — even if those passengers aren’t landing on American soil.

Robertson, a former diplomat and head of the Advocacy Secretariat in Canada’s Washington embassy, has been monitoring America’s preoccupation with security since 9-11, and said the U.S. has pressed other nations to adopt its Secure Flight program, which requires airlines to submit personal information about passengers 72 hours before a flight’s departure….

“It would make travel more onorous and not as much fun, but it’s not some kind of plot designed against Canadians,” said Robertson, a former Reginan. “The Americans have been applying this to most places and we’ve been catching up,”

“It will affect us more than anybody else because we have much more to do with the U.S. Americans want to know who’s coming through their airspace and that’s their right. If that’s what the Americans are asking for, that’s what we’ll be giving them.”

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