Transport committee  The comment I have on this particular issue is that we have difficulty asserting that the credentials of the pilots are equal to ours. For example, what Transport Canada has done is to give that verification function to the company itself and say, “You tell us they have the necessary credentials and we'll issue the temporary permit.”

Transport committee  It's not just the auditing and inspection functions that are lacking. We also have an enforcement side. When they're auditing and an inspector discovers a problem, enforcement has to step in to do something. We're not seeing enforcement at all anymore. In fact in our neck of the woods, pilots are bailing out of enforcement as quickly as they can.

Transport committee  They're finding it difficult to enforce, and in fact I don't see much enforcement action happening.

Transport committee  The technology has improved. The pilots' skills are improving, yet we're still seeing accidents occur. We're still seeing accidents that we used to see 30 years ago. For example, controlled flight into terrain is something that technology has gone a long way to reduce. The latest one we experienced was First Air, which was lacking particular equipment that is now on almost every other airplane in Canada to prevent you from flying into high ground.

Transport committee  It is very difficult for employees to report a problem without being perceived as trouble-makers. That is what happened to us.

Transport committee  I am not saying this happens in all companies, but it does happen.

Transport committee  In our opinion, deficiencies noted by Transport Canada as of 2011 had to do with training as well as operational control of aircrafts. I believe these deficiencies were recently addressed. I do not have the details, just the report in which the deficiencies are mentioned, which indicates the problems have existed for a long time.

Transport committee  It is a good question. In fact, regulations stipulate what training must involve, and that should be complied with. However, the problems were not particularly easy to solve. Truthfully, it was the equipment being used that was not compliant with standards.

Transport committee  It is even more ludicrous when we buy tickets from the company itself in order to conduct an inspection. It becomes impossible for us to hide.

Transport committee  Allow me to mention that I became aware of an incident involving an airline company. One of its employees had submitted reports through the SMS, all of which had been ignored. Subsequently, the employee submitted a report using Transport Canada's civil aviation issues reporting system.

Transport committee  For this year, I've not gone to the Transportation Safety Board side yet to measure the numbers. Those are numbers that belong to Transport Canada—

Transport committee  If it materializes, it will amount to 40 to 50 more accidents.

Transport committee  I've not read that.

Transport committee  From our side, I've received none. It's not a labour—

Transport committee  We do not resist the implementation of SMS.