OTTAWA — The federal government is launching a security crackdown on more than 100,000 workers at Canada's airports and marine ports, Canwest News Service has learned.

The initiative comes through a new deal signed Wednesday by the federal Transport Department and the RCMP to weed out organized-crime operatives from restricted areas. The agreement would improve information-sharing between the two parties and allow the RCMP to conduct detailed background checks on employees at airports or marine ports who are applying for new security passes or renewals.

A senior government official told Canwest News Service the deal would improve the security of both passengers and cargo at airports and marine ports.

"Our government is serious about getting people who shouldn't be working in classified areas out, and we're committed to fighting organized crime, wherever it exists," said the source.

Transport Minister John Baird pledged to have the deal signed last month, after Auditor General Sheila Fraser warned in a report that members of organized crime and other shady characters were infiltrating these ports of entry because of poor communication between Transport Canada and the police.

Fraser noted that a pass for restricted areas had been issued to a person with assault and weapons convictions, and who was also under investigation for a murder related to drug-smuggling at a large airport.

The RCMP had also released a report last year that warned there were more than 60 employees with links to organized crime at the country's eight largest airports, and many organized gangs were found to be using the airports for some of their activities.

But Fraser's report said Transport Canada was withholding airport information from the police because of individual privacy concerns, while the RCMP was reluctant to work with the transport department after the Mounties were criticized for sharing information that led to the deportation from the United States of Maher Arar, a Canadian citizen who was subsequently tortured in Syria.

A public inquiry later cleared Arar of all allegations and blamed Canadian officials for his ordeal.

Government officials were not immediately able to explain how the new Transport Canada-RCMP agreement would improve individual privacy risks, nor could they provide cost estimates of running the detailed background checks.

But under the agreement, the RCMP would be able to run the names of employees seeking security passes in restricted areas through 10 different criminal databases, which include information about complaints, victims, suspects, and other criminal intelligence information, regarding ongoing investigations.

An Interpol database, with police information from 187 member countries, would also be consulted as part of the background checks.

Transport Canada issues about 45,000 security passes a year to new applicants and existing employees who are seeking a renewal on their five-year passes.

The new deal also follows a recent test carried out by Baird and Liberal Senator Colin Kenny, who were able to make their way onto the tarmac and other restricted areas of the Pearson International Airport in Toronto without being approached by security. Airport officials have since pledged to make serious changes to improve security measures.

While Kenny said he has been trying to raise awareness about the problems for years, Baird indicated he wanted to ensure airport security goes beyond the existing measures that target passengers.

"There's got to be more to security than confiscating toothpaste or their shampoo, so we're going to be looking at specific changes as a result of the visit that we paid," Baird said in a recent interview with Canwest News Service and Global National.

mdesouza@canwest.com