OTTAWA (CP) -- A Manitoba MP is questioning the value of airline no-fly lists after being red-flagged for scrutiny at the airport twice in less than four months.
Pat Martin says he's ''getting fed up'' with the screening procedures that have prompted frustrating ticket-counter delays with Air Canada on two occasions.
''I can assure you I'm not a security risk, but I am about to get violent if I get treated this way again,'' he said in an interview.
''I want to know who's driving this bus, who's in charge of this program. Because as a security measure, it's a pretty damn clumsy, blunt instrument. I don't know who's getting through, but people like me are getting stopped.''
Martin, a New Democrat MP, was ''very surprised _ stunned, in fact'' when first halted in late March while en route from Winnipeg to Washington. It took half an hour to clear up the matter.
He says he was assured he would not have problems with future bookings already made with Air Canada.
So Martin was taken aback when the flag came up again Monday as he tried to board a flight to Vancouver to attend a conference on native residential schools. He was delayed about 20 minutes.
Martin, whose Winnipeg riding includes the airport, said Air Canada personnel were embarrassed by the incidents.
''We're on a first-name basis. I fly all the time. So it just makes you wonder who the chimpanzees are who designed this list.''
Among politicians, Martin is not alone. Defence Minister Bill Graham has also had problems boarding aircraft in recent months.
In the U.S., Senator Ted Kennedy has been stopped at several different airports before persuading personnel they had the wrong person.
Martin hasn't received an explanation as to why he was singled out, though presumably another person with his name is considered a threat to air safety.
''There's no accountability here, there's no grievance procedure, there doesn't seem to be any remedy for people who feel they're being treated wrongly,'' he said.
Air Canada spokeswoman Laura Cook said Tuesday the airline follows the security requirements of the jurisdictions in which it operates. But she had nothing to add concerning Martin's experiences.
''Generally speaking, we do not comment on specific security-related procedures.''
Following word of Graham's difficulties, Air Canada said in a statement that there had been ''technical glitches'' resulting in passengers being inadvertently flagged in its system by the U.S. government's no-fly list.
Canada is developing its own list for use by airlines, but has encountered numerous obstacles _ from ensuring respect for privacy laws to managing the technical demands of the project.
The government is also looking at requiring Canadian passengers to state their birth date before boarding a commercial flight to make watch-list comparisons easier.
In a recent poll conducted for the Public Safety Department, 85 per cent of Canadians surveyed said they would be willing to present ''a travel identification document or card'' with their full name, gender and date of birth at time of check-in.
Asked which document would be the most acceptable as proof of identity when boarding domestic flights, 44 per cent said the Canadian passport, 31 per cent a provincially issued driver's licence or health card with photo, and 14 per cent a government-issued travel identity card.
Seven per cent said all three options were equally acceptable.
The poll of 1,008 Canadian adults was carried out by Ekos Research Associates in late February and early March. It is considered accurate to within 3.1 percentage points 19 times out of 20.
