GOING POSTAL

Try to board an aircraft these days with even a tiny pair of scissors
in your hand luggage and odds are you'll never get it on the plane.

That's because all luggage is X-rayed as a matter of routine and, in a
post 9/11 world, the screeners have been instructed to be scrupulous.

Then again, you can always arrange to have someone ship you an illegal
handgun -- or drugs -- from the U.S. or overseas via Canada's mail
system and odds are it will arrive safe and sound.

That's because Canada Customs and Revenue Agency inspects and X-rays
less than 5% of the mail coming into Canada, and is prohibited by law
from touching any mail under 30 grams.

It's just one more way for criminals to get guns, drugs and other
contraband into the country as reported by the Sun's Maria McClintock
on Wednesday. Documents she obtained under Access to Information
legislation show that guns, teargas and drugs, including cocaine and
heroin, are routinely smuggled into Canada through the five major mail
centres in Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Winnipeg.

And since less than 5% of the mail is actually inspected it's a safe
bet that far more contraband gets through than is ever caught. This is
just one more way for thugs to get illegal guns and drugs on our streets.

The way to fight the problem seems obvious. Inspect and X-ray every
piece of mail coming into the country -- or at least as much of it as
is physically possible -- and not just that which arouses the
suspicion of customs officers. Plus, eliminate the 30-gram limit.

The right to privacy doesn't include the right to mail drugs and other
contraband illegally into Canada.

The federal Liberal government, remember, is intent on having 100% of
Canada's long-arm owners register their legal firearms in a program
which has turned into a billion-dollar boondoggle as part of their
so-called war on crime.

Isn't it a tad inconsistent, then, that its approach to stopping
illegal guns from coming into Canada via the mail consists of random
checks involving less than 5% of the packages?

That's not the fault of front-line CCRA inspectors.

It's a question of political will and resources. Where is all that
money Ottawa has been taking from us ever since 9/11, ostensibly to
help make our borders more secure, going anyway?