Justice John Major heard at the Air India Inquiry today that Canada's air cargo security presents an accident waiting to happen.

Risk assessment expert William Leiss testified that the evidence shows air cargo security in Canada has been a known risk for decades. He said, "I don't understand how anybody could be complacent. With respect to the evidence that is before this inquiry about how long this has been flagged, and the knowledge that we have in this area of risk that there are malevolent people out there probing the system on a continuous basis for the weaknesses that they can exploit."

Leiss said he wanted to hear the minister of transport, Lawrence Cannon, say that this is a priority for the Canadian government.

"What would I expect as a citizen? I expect to hear from the minister of transport that the allocation of resources to air cargo security represents an acceptable risk to Canadians. I want to hear him say that. I want to hear him say it before anything happens. I want to know that someone has taken responsibility for making this judgment, because the evidence seems to suggest that it is an accident waiting to happen."

Air India Flight 182 was brought down in June of 1985 by a bomb on board the plane in an unaccompanied bag in the cargo hold.

The inquiry is scheduled to wrap up next week.