Core Services Review – Implementation of the Air Services Policy Framework

Service levels and hours provided by the CBSA

Each day, the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) must meet the demand for border services for an increasingly rigorous travel industry and in a tightening economy. This combination of factors makes the task of maintaining existing programs and services with limited resources a formidable one. Yet despite this, the Agency is dedicated to ensuring the security and prosperity of Canada by managing the access of people and goods to and from Canada.

Among the CBSA's challenges is how it can fairly and transparently respond to industry requests for revised levels of border clearance services at some of Canada's ports of entry or introduce new services at others.

What level of international passenger clearance services does the CBSA provide?

When the CBSA refers to its "levels of service," it is referring to the specific combination of border services provided at specific locations, such as airports. This combination is unique to each location and is based on the following:

• The hours of operation during which the CBSA provides its services at each site (e.g. on an eight-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week basis);
• The types of service that the CBSA provides on behalf of the Government of Canada (e.g. the clearance of international passengers at airports); and
• The CBSA's operational capacity at the site.

Collectively, this location-specific level of service combination provided by the CBSA is called "core services." Currently, airports are most affected by limited international passenger clearance services.

Issues raised by the air industry

Stakeholders have taken the position that the CBSA does not respond to the current needs of the Canadian air industry, asserting that the CBSA's operational hours at certain locations are not responsive to business demands since air travel is not a nine-to-five operation. Therefore, air industry stakeholders believe that a policy should be in place to offer a consistent and transparent approach to obtaining new or additional levels of service.

Additionally, stakeholders have criticized the CBSA's process of identifying which services are

• funded publicly;
• paid through cost-recovery measures;
• recouped through a combination of both public funds and cost recovery; or
• denied after a request is made.

The industry maintains the CBSA's process is disproportionately applied to newer and smaller airports and consequently hinders economic development.

Air Services Policy Framework

With an aim to collaboratively address stakeholder issues, the CBSA undertook a two-phase review of its service level standards and conducted consultations with the air industry. The first phase of this Core Services Review focused on the air mode of transportation and was completed in 2008. The second phase will review the marine and rail modes and is currently under way.

With the completion of the air mode review, the CBSA has met its primary objective of developing and recently implementing the Air Services Policy Framework. The framework aims to establish a consistent, open and equitable service delivery approach for determining where and how best to allocate the CBSA's resources for future service requests.

The CBSA has put the newly implemented policy framework to the test and has expanded international passenger clearance services at eligible sites. The policy framework uses a set of clear, measurable, transparent and weighted criteria to categorize airports based on passenger volumes, the distance to service locations and flight frequency. All the criteria must be met for a location to be eligible for new or enhanced CBSA services.

Improvements to border service levels

To support this new policy framework, an online self-assessment guide for the air industry is in development. This guide will let stakeholders gauge their eligibility to request service level changes from the CBSA or to ask for new services. It is based on the criteria outlined in the Air Services Policy Framework.

If deemed eligible, stakeholders will then be able to submit a business case to receive new or enhanced international passenger clearance services. However, until the guide becomes available online, stakeholders must continue to submit service requests to their regional CBSA office.

Moving forward

The CBSA continues to work closely with industry stakeholders to find collaborative solutions regarding border services. The CBSA intends to maintain realistic but effective policies on its standard levels of service over the long term.

For more information, please consult the Core Services Review: Air Mode Report. The final report can be obtained in print or electronic format by contacting the Core Services Review team.