2 hours in no man's land: The trouble with customs at Montreal's Trudeau airport
Ottawa pressed to provide more resources amid chronic delays
Montreal Mayor Denis Coderre is asking Ottawa to act after another long wait for passengers at Trudeau airport Tuesday evening highlighted a chronic problem: hours-long delays at customs.
Coderre told reporters Wednesday he contacted Transport Minister Marc Garneau, the MP for Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, to address the issue, saying it "makes no sense."
He said with an increasing number of direct flights to Montreal, more border agents must be assigned to Trudeau airport to handle the extra passenger load.
Dominic Fugère, the head of the Trois-Rivières Grand Prix, said it took two hours and 15 minutes from the time he stepped off the plane to the time he left the airport.
Fugère, who travels often, said Tuesday's problems were nothing new, and long waits such as what he experienced give visitors a poor first impression of Montreal.
"They just said there was a higher-than-normal volume of clients," Fugère said in an interview.
Union blames lack of staffing
The head of Canada's Customs and Immigration Union, which represents border service agents at Trudeau airport, said there's "obviously a lack of staffing" at the airport.
Jean-Pierre Fortin said recent job cuts imposed by the former Conservative government are partly to blame.
"We need more staff, that's for sure, but also I think flights need to spread out more," Fortin said.
In a statement, a spokesman for the federal minister of public safety said the government "understands the frustrations of travellers who have had to wait extended periods, often after lengthy international flights."
"Officials continue to work with all involved agencies to determine how to ensure the proper screening of everyone entering the country while reducing inconveniences to travelers," said Scott Bardsley.