Transport committee  There are many. It depends on our networks. In the past few years, we have build fairly powerful networks for our vital niches, such as Montreal-Toronto and Calgary-Vancouver. That's one aspect of competitiveness. A second aspect is certainly cost, including labour costs and maintenance time for airplanes.

Transport committee  The act creates a certain obligation that our competitors are not subject to, be they Canadian companies like WestJet, Porter or Sunwing, or international companies like British Airways, Air France or Cathay Pacific. These few restrictions and obligations eliminate the capacity to offer competitive prices around the world, which has affected us for several years.

Transport committee  I must be very clear with you. This isn't an ideal solution. Ideally, this act should be repealed and we should ensure that we have exactly the same conditions as all of our competitors. That would move us substantially closer to our goal, which is to have a level playing field.

Transport committee  That's over the Atlantic and over the Pacific, as we have routes, for example, to Seoul, China, Hong Kong, etc. Those obviously have large volume. A large number of aircrafts have now been purchased to be able to accomplish those missions.

Transport committee  Frankly, as I said earlier, we have 70 airlines now that fly into Canada, so we have fairly intense competition over the Atlantic and over the Pacific from respective carriers of those countries. For example, we'll face competition to Europe from British Airways, Air France, and those kinds of European carriers, and we'll face competition to Asia from Cathay Pacific, from Singapore Airlines, and those types of carriers.

Transport committee  As Asia has grown, there's no question that we're facing what we call in the industry “the Pacific century”, so there's no question that there will be increasing competition coming out of Asia. A lot of Chinese carriers have now come into the market. We used to just see Air China, China Eastern, and so on, but now we see more and more of the Chinese carriers.

Transport committee  Thank you for the question. As you said so clearly, we have been suggesting that the Air Canada Public Participation Act be amended, if not repealed, for a fairly long time. I have here a document we tabled on February 15, 2015, before the committee chaired by Mr. Emerson. The purpose of the document was to review the amendments to the Canada Transportation Act.

Transport committee  All that to say that we have been expressing this desire for a very long time. We spoke about it with the governments of Quebec and Manitoba, as well as with the federal government.

Transport committee  Certainly since last October. Our people indicated that our preference was that the act be repealed. Every time the Emerson Report was mentioned, we raised this issue with the three levels of government.

Transport committee  Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you for allowing me to speak to you today about the importance of modernizing the Air Canada Public Participation Act and, more specifically, about Air Canada's position on Bill C-10. With me today is Kevin Howlette, our senior vice president of Regional Markets and Government Affairs.

Transport committee  Very much so, indeed. Let me say that it is essential to do exactly as you say. For them to be competitive, they have to be able to rely on business from more than just one customer. I think the sine qua non to building a successful business is ensuring that they can actually attract third-party business from other North American carriers and potentially from carriers elsewhere in the world.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Martin. I'm going to do the first part first. If the maintenance operations of Air Canada made money in 1988, obviously that was a very good thing, then, at the time. That is precisely what we had hoped the Aveos company could do, just like we hoped the same thing for Aeroplan, just like we hoped the same thing for Jazz, when these business units were sold.

Transport committee  But you have wonder, scratch your head a little bit, that somebody would invest $975 million and flush it down the toilet to be able to achieve that objective, somebody other than the so-called beneficiaries of that strategy. I don't buy that comment. On the second point, we will look to encourage workers in these three cities.

Transport committee  No, I do not agree.

Transport committee  Our view, again, is not. We have sought all kinds of legal confirmations to that effect. Our view is not. We would look to encourage people in those three cities, in addition to, by the way, Vancouver. Because we are today compliant with the act, and we don't intend to not allow opportunities for people in Vancouver as well.