Yes.
Evidence of meeting #16 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 noise.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #16 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 noise.
A recording is available from Parliament.
4:30 p.m.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
This bill is going to take your regular annual reporting cycle from one year to three years.
4:30 p.m.
Director General, Air and Accessible Transportation Branch, Canadian Transportation Agency
That's for Transport's report on the functioning of the transport system. The agency will still be required to file an annual report.
4:35 p.m.
Director General, Air and Accessible Transportation Branch, Canadian Transportation Agency
No. There is a separate annual report.
4:35 p.m.
Acting chairman, Canadian Transportation Agency
An RPP and the annual report.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
4:35 p.m.
Director General, Air and Accessible Transportation Branch, Canadian Transportation Agency
Yes, that's correct.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
In your annual report, then, would there be an annual statement or an annual listing, or a separate report on the air traffic complaints?
4:35 p.m.
Acting chairman, Canadian Transportation Agency
There would be a portion that deals with air travel complaints.
4:35 p.m.
Acting chairman, Canadian Transportation Agency
There is one like it in the last annual report, and you have the same kind of information.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Help me to understand. I haven't seen the last report. Is it an evaluative report? Is it a descriptive report? Is it an interpretive report? Or is it a statistical report? For example, as Mr. Hood suggested, if he came across 15, 18, or 25 similar complaints, he might have judged that to be a pattern of behaviour by a particular airline carrier.
Does your report go that distance in interpreting the statistics, helping my mother, who flies a lot, to understand that there are problems or not problems with a particular airline carrier in terms of a specific pattern of conduct? Or is your report restricted to statements such as, “Here are the incidents, here are the number of cases heard, and here are the number of cases resolved?”
4:35 p.m.
Acting chairman, Canadian Transportation Agency
There are some statistics, but there is also some interpretation. When we deal with something that touches on tariffs, and when we issue a decision, the airlines read those decisions and know that next time they would be better to follow the guidelines that have been developed, established through a decision.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
I'll try it this way, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Dufault and the team, Mr. Isenberg and Ms. MacDonald, if you wanted to enhance transparency for the average citizen stepping off a bus in this city, who flies twice a year, how would you enhance transparency around air traffic complaints if you were to write the reporting requirements today? How would you make it more understandable for the average citizen? How would you communicate it better? How would you enhance transparency for the average consumer in Canada around these challenges?
4:35 p.m.
Acting chairman, Canadian Transportation Agency
We simply publish the number of complaints, the area.... We identify the issues and we identify the airline that complaints have been received about. Basically, we cannot go and write a book on every issue, so we are as transparent as we can be in the present circumstances.
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
Okay. Once again, and I know you're as transparent as you possibly can be given the four corners of your statute and your mandate--that I understand--but how would you enhance transparency for the average consumer? From a consumer protection perspective on this issue, how would you do it?
4:35 p.m.
Acting chairman, Canadian Transportation Agency
Our mandate is to facilitate resolution of complaints for which there's no other remedy. So it's a--
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
David McGuinty Liberal Ottawa South, ON
But your mandate is going to be enhanced now to fully take on the responsibility of the commissioner. Correct?
4:35 p.m.
Liberal
4:35 p.m.
Director General, Air and Accessible Transportation Branch, Canadian Transportation Agency
If I may, the agency has just tabled its 2005 report, and there is a fair section in there about air travel complaints. As Mr. Dufault has said, it does provide information about the volume of complaints, but it also talks about the types of complaints received, and I think your average Canadian would readily understand what we're talking about.
So I don't see a huge difference between what was in the commissioner's report and what is in the annual report.