Fact Sheet

March 2009

Core Services Review: The Creation of an Air Services Policy Framework

The Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) ensures the security and prosperity of Canada by managing the access of people and goods to and from the country. One of the Agency's major tasks is to provide border services at airports, such as the clearance of international passengers.

To improve the way services are delivered, the CBSA undertook a review of its services in the air mode of travel. The major outcome of this review was the creation and implementation of a policy framework for the CBSA's service delivery. This review fulfilled the Agency's commitment to provide a service delivery approach for the air travel industry that is fair, transparent and flexible. While initially this policy framework focuses on the needs of the air industry, plans to undertake a similar review of other modes of travel such as rail and marine are under way.

Initiating a review

Air industry stakeholders have indicated that the CBSA could better respond to their current needs. CBSA 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 publicly funded service.

With an aim to collaboratively address stakeholder issues, the CBSA undertook a comprehensive, two-phase review of its service level standards. Consulting directly with air industry stakeholders was a major component. The results of these consultations can be found in the Core Services Review: Air Mode Report. This report is available by contacting the CBSA's Core Services Review team by e-mail at csr-esb@cbsa-asfc.gc.ca.

Defining "core services"

The CBSA provides varied levels of border services at Canada's ports of entry, such as airports. The levels are unique to each port and are designated based on the combination of the following factors:

• Hours of business during which the Agency provides services at each site (e.g. the delivery of border services on an eight-hour-a-day, seven-day-a-week basis;
• Types of service the CBSA provides on behalf of the Government of Canada (e.g. the clearance of international passengers at airports); and
• The Agency's operational capacity at the site.

Collectively, this location-specific approach is called the "core services" provided by the CBSA to its clients.

Putting the Air Services Policy Framework into action

The main objective of the Core Services Review was to develop a collaborative solution that addresses the air industry's concerns. The solution lay in the development of a comprehensive air services policy framework that would guide how the Agency provides its services in the air mode. This framework, which takes effect April 1, 2009, establishes a consistent, open and equitable process for the CBSA to determine where and how best to allocate resources for future service requests.

The CBSA has expanded the levels of publicly funded border services at six airports, based on their eligibility assessed with the Air Services Policy Framework. The framework uses a set of clear, measurable, transparent and weighted criteria to categorize airports. These criteria are based on international passenger volumes, distance to service locations and flight frequency. All the criteria must be met for a site to be eligible for new or enhanced publicly funded CBSA services.

The framework's guidelines allow the CBSA to assess business cases from requesting sites on whether the introduction or expansion of publicly funded border services would be both viable and sustainable. The assessments are made on a case-by-case basis.

Funding information

In the 2009-10 fiscal year, the new investments will be distributed as follows:

Airport/Investment amount
Toronto City Centre Airport: $1,744,223
Regina International Airport: $678,351
Saskatoon John G. Diefenbaker International Airport: $678,351
Deer Lake Regional Airport: $670,224
Total: $3,771,149

Note: Funding information for the remaining two airports will be provided in a subsequent backgrounder.