Canada is receiving specific threats about civilian planes taking off = from Canadian airports and needs greater powers to deal with such issues, a senior security official said on Monday. "I can tell you... there are specific threats against Canadians and = Canadian aircraft that we have an obligation to protect them from," Robert = Wright, the new national security advisor to Canadian Prime Minister Paul = Martin, told the Senate's national security and defence committee. He added: "Canada continues to receive some specific threats for some aircraft which we really need more tools to deal with." Wright gave no details on which flights had been threatened, when it happened, or on the nature of the threats. He urged the Senate upper chamber of parliament to approve a new law = which would, for the first time, give police advance information about = passengers on domestic flights and on flights to destinations outside the United States. Over the last two months several Transatlantic flights by British = Airways, Air France and Continental Airlines have been cancelled because of US security concerns. But Wright's comments were the first indication that planes from Canada could also pose a problem. A spokesman for Transport Canada -- the federal transport ministry -- = said one example of a security threat was an El Al flight which diverted last October because of a threat. "We do receive threat information from time to time," said Peter Coyles, declining to give other examples. The plane, bound for Toronto from Tel Aviv, landed in Montreal and then = in Hamilton, Ontario after a threat believed to center on talk that the = plane could be attacked when it left Toronto's Pearson Airport. Companies operating flights to US airports already provide passenger information to US authorities on request, but Wright suggested this = might not go far enough. "An awful lot of Canadian flights go through US airspace, even when it's between two Canadian cities," Wright told reporters. "We have a capacity to see advance information on people coming into the country. We do not have... a chance to screen that information for = flights within Canada or from Canada to third countries other than the United States." He also said the draft law being discussed by the Senate would help = Canadian authorities screen employees at airports and ports.