Evidence of meeting #14 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 39th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was agency.
A recording is available from Parliament.
5 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I'd like to come back to the question that we were working through; I'm sorry it was a lengthy question.
In the example of somebody in Burnaby--New Westminster who has travel complaints and has contacted the agency through the toll-free number, how is that treated? What are the timelines set around that? How is their issue addressed?
5 p.m.
Director General, Air Policy, Department of Transport
The agency, through its complaints program, would manage the complaint initially on an informal basis. I will not vouch for the size of its current staff. I don't know exactly the size of the office that deals with complaints; I believe it's in the order of four individuals.
5 p.m.
Director General, Air Policy, Department of Transport
I believe so. We don't have the exact statistics, so I'm not going to hang my hat on that.
These people would investigate first with the carrier, if that has not already been done, to see if those complaints can be addressed. Those are the level-one considerations: working first with the carrier to get resolution.
In terms of resolution, the agency is saying to us that they have a high level of satisfaction through level one, I assume just by working with the carrier in clarifying, resolving, and addressing, with the carrier taking appropriate measures to respond to the complainant. If necessary, they go to a second level, at which the agency, still in an informal process, looks further into the complaint. It looks at how the carrier has responded, looks at the complainant's issue, looks at whether there is some compromise possible, some intermediate ground, and at the validity and so on.
Again, in most cases the issue is resolved. The issue is resolved to the satisfaction of the complainant through discussion, through the informal clarification of the issue, and through the responsiveness of the carrier. Only a very small number of cases are then referred to a formal, quasi-judicial process. Out of the thousand and some complaints received in 2005, only seven went to that quasi-judicial process.
I'm being a little bit vague because I don't want to speak for the agency's day-to-day work.
5 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
I can advise the committee that the agency will be presenting to the committee also. That is just for clarification.
5 p.m.
Director General, Air Policy, Department of Transport
What my staff has just passed to me is that there may be as many as 17 to 20 staff, but they aren't totally dedicated to the informal function, so the number of players who would look at any one issue on a regular basis varies.
You asked how long it would take; I think it also depends on the nature of the issue and the degree of responsiveness. Some cases may be fairly cut and dried, while in some cases I think a complainant may come in with a full range of issues. They don't always come in with just one complaint that can be addressed in isolation. There are a lot of grey zones, and a number of issues can overlap. I think a timeline is very difficult and I think resources also factor into it; the agency looks at what it can do in a most expedient fashion with the resources it has.
5:05 p.m.
NDP
Peter Julian NDP Burnaby—New Westminster, BC
Thank you for that.
Particularly in terms of the timelines, I'm thinking of first response. I imagine there is a triage. We all go through that in our constituency offices, where we deal with the most urgent cases first, so I understand that it might vary according to the severity of the complaint and the immediacy of the support that the person might need.
But generally speaking, what are the guidelines the agency would have, or had during the pilot project, on how to respond? Particularly when it's a website or a message box on a toll-free number, it's much more difficult for somebody to feel their complaint is being dealt with if they haven't actually talked with somebody who is investigating their complaint or doing the follow-up.
September 26th, 2006 / 5:05 p.m.
Director General, Air Policy, Department of Transport
I would encourage you to put that question to the agency directly. I don't know what their internal indicator or performance measure is for a satisfactory response.
5:05 p.m.
Bloc
Mario Laframboise Bloc Argenteuil—Papineau—Mirabel, QC
Within the framework of our study, we should probably ask representatives of the agency to appear before us. The day that this bill, which deals with noise among other issues, comes into force, you will receive a ton of complaints, particularly since the court of appeal determined that the agency did not have the necessary jurisdiction to hear noise complaints.
Are there plans to adjust staffing levels as a result?
5:05 p.m.
Director General, Surface Transportation Policy, Department of Transport
We discussed this with the minister's office, which feels that the agency has sufficient staff to deal with these problems. The agency has a mediation team which is not very busy. There are a number of resources that can be used to help resolve noise problems.
5:05 p.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
Are there any other questions? Seeing none, I thank our witnesses for appearing today. We appreciate your help.
For the committee on Thursday, I have an update. We've had a little bit of difficulty bringing witnesses in on short notice. If you have anybody to recommend, please provide the clerk with those names. On Thursday we will have a brief meeting rather than having witnesses, because of the time. We'll decide who we want, and then we'll continue to pursue these people to bring them forward.
If there no questions, the meeting is adjourned.