One more thought on this idea of processes. A long time ago (and this will probably reveal how old I am), I worked for a little company in Waterloo called Research in Motion on the factory floor where they were producing BlackBerrys. My job involved documenting the manufacturing process and identifying areas for improvement. As a consequence, I spent a decent amount of my time in the factory in a number of areas. Every time I had to go to work, I had to walk through a metal detector and have items scanned and had to do the exact same thing when I had to leave at the end of the day. If I went into areas of the factory that were working on early or pre-production devices, there were additional screenings performed when I had to enter and leave just that area. You had to badge in everywhere so needless to say the company kept track of everything. And this was to protect someone walking off with a couple thousand dollars worth of BlackBerrys.

Now fast forward to what we've seen with Air Canada secure where it seems like the only thing you need to steal millions in precious cargo from their facility is a U-Haul and an easily forged way bill. I would assert that it's easier to steal $20 million in Gold from YYZ cargo than it is to board an international flight out of YYZ with a forged passport. And for those who think this is a one-off thing, no this has been happening at Pearson for sometime. For instance, in the 90s and early 2000s YYZ was a popular place to steal cargo. Rather than address the shortcomings back then, the authorities seem to have kept things status quo.

But I suppose the real question is, when the dust settles will Air Canada and the airport authorities make any substantive changes or will be it back to business as usual? Making these changes to processes will cost money and it will mean that it takes longer for cargo to get cleared. Ultimately I suspect Air Canada's insurer will pick up the bill here, but likely will require them to rethink cargo security before providing them with insurance again.

-RooFlyer88