Transport committee  It's hard for me to comment beyond that.

Transport committee  We are, and I'll have our VP of operations and legal affairs explain why.

Transport committee  Thank you very much. Good afternoon, Mr. Chair and committee members. Thank you for the opportunity to provide comments on the proposed amendments to Canada's Aeronautics Act, the backbone of our aviation regulatory infrastructure here in Canada. For the most part, Canada's airports support the proposed amendments.

Human Resources committee  If they have the ability to shut us down, it's going to be very difficult to negotiate in a reasonable, respectful way, which Mr. Lotito alluded to earlier. It makes things rather difficult. Mr. Lotito is at the table, so I'll let him go further from there.

Human Resources committee  If the committee would really like to understand how things went at the Quebec airport during that time, and how it may have been a little more difficult than may have been represented here today, I would encourage this committee to continue hearing witnesses and call the Quebec airport authority to talk to them directly.

Human Resources committee  Just for the record, Mr. Chair, to make sure we have it straight, I spoke about civil aviation regulations. The decisions and the regulations of firefighting standards are set by Transport Canada. There is a new set of firefighting standards that Sault Ste. Marie airport will be adhering to that will require them to have the new set of firefighting and rescue operations that they've decided on.

Human Resources committee  The civil aviation regulations are very complex. They also apply to airports differently. Based on their passenger volumes, they're categorized very differently. The requirements of a very small regional airport are very much different from a Toronto one. It would take some time to go through it.

Human Resources committee  We would say that it's a matter of degree. On that point, I'll let Mr. Lotito take over. He can talk about some of the operational issues we have to face every day.

Human Resources committee  Section 87.4 of the Canada Labour Code specifically states that we must maintain safety and security at our airports. What we have at the various airports is an activity agreement that allows airports to continue. The problem is that it's not good enough. This piece of legislation will go against our ability to maintain safe and secure operations.

Human Resources committee  Mr. Chairman, it's part of my answer. I would like Mr. Lotito to continue the answer.

Human Resources committee  Here in Ottawa.

Human Resources committee  We have a situation at airports, with civil aviation regulations, that we must adhere to. If an airport operator is of the opinion that they cannot safely and securely operate that airport, they have no choice but to shut down that airport--or have the regulator remove their operating certificate for them.

Human Resources committee  The first thing you can do is take it off the table.

Human Resources committee  But to be very honest, that is our first answer. That said, in our reading of this there is an inherent conflict, in some of the language as written, between the English and the French. That needs to be carefully reviewed. For example, if you look at proposed subsection 94(2.4), there is in our opinion a distinct difference between what the English version says and what the French version says.

Human Resources committee  If a major airport were to have labour problems and had to shut down as a result, or had severe delays, it could essentially mean that smaller airport communities would not have access to other communities. They would not be permitted to take off. I explained earlier that we have some regulations that we must abide by.