Transport committee  Mr. Chairman, you've hit on a very good point. We can't close our eyes to the reality that if we are going to move ahead with provisions like this, which can impose severe liabilities on air carriers because of weather, and in fact impose system costs in serving communities that, as you say, may be prone to adverse weather conditions on a fairly regular basis, clearly that adds cost to one's ability to serve them.

Transport committee  Mr. Byrne, if I may, if we're talking about a legislative regulatory framework that understands how the aviation supply system works, that takes away this culture of blame and penalization, that looks at real ways of improving the customer experience and improving customer protection and standards, and if that may involve a framework that involves the CTA--takes the courts out of it, takes legal uncertainty out of it--I can tell you we will be there and we will be discussing that very seriously, sir.

Transport committee  You are absolutely right.

Transport committee  I think that you have fully understood what we are saying. During plane travel in Canada or abroad, there are many stakeholders. Everyone with a direct or indirect impact on the process needs to come together and talk about their responsibilities, their obligations and their potential roles.

Transport committee  No. An earlier reference was made to WestJet not overbooking. Air Transat doesn't overbook either. I'll leave it.... What we do is very simple. If there is a situation where somebody is not able to board as booked, we have in our tariffs very clear provisions regarding compensation.

Transport committee  I guess I'd ask you this: on the basis of what legislative framework?

Transport committee  Mr. Byrne, thank you for that. If that takes place in the context of no Bill C-310, I'm going to tell you now that we're prepared to discuss any possible scenarios.

Transport committee  Absolutely.

Transport committee  Well, sir, I can't speak on behalf of a specific proposal in that respect without, obviously, consulting our membership. I take your point here, and your suggestion, but I have to be able to speak on behalf of people, and I—

Transport committee  Absolutely.

Transport committee  Unfortunately, I can't tell you that, as I don't have that information. In fact, the information I have was given to me by my colleague from Air Canada just a few minutes before I sat down with you. So he may know that, but unfortunately, I don't have that information.

Transport committee  In terms of cancelled flights system-wide?

Transport committee  Oh. Well, you're probably lucky. I think that's a pretty good average. I don't have the numbers system-wide, but I can tell you that cancellations are not as frequent as some of those supporting this bill will tell you. It was suggested that it was done for purely commercial reasons.

Transport committee  I think we've put some serious proposals out there, and we say we are going to abide by the standards we've given ourselves. Reference was made to the 90-minute commitment. That is a real commitment. I can tell you that it's half the time currently being debated right now in the Senate of the United States, where, as you know, they have a more serious problem when it comes to these sorts of things due to the obvious nature of the beast down there with the huge congestion they have at some of their airports.

Transport committee  Sir, we are saying this: this bill has unfortunately not taken into account the realities of the air transport supply chain. It introduces concepts like extraordinary circumstances, which, as a lawyer, I can tell you, if you put 20 lawyers into a room and tell them to define those circumstances, you will get 20 different definitions.