Evidence of meeting #31 for Finance in the 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was service.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Senior Vice-President, Greyhound Canada Transportation Corporation
It's the same. We've sent letters to and had discussions with both the Department of Finance and Transport Canada, with staffers as well as with the minister's office. The jurisdictional response is that it's a provincial issue.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Okay, thank you.
Mr. Lefebvre, would you comment?
President, Groupe Autocar Jeannois
We sent letters to the federal government, specifically to the Department of Transport and the Department of Finance. We received responses, but of course, we have to consider jurisdictions, both provincial and federal. That is where we are now.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Thank you.
This question is for Mr. McKenna. How many airlines are there operating in Canada currently?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Transport Association of Canada
Airlines are divided into categories depending on size.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Transport Association of Canada
There are roughly 45 airlines in Canada.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Okay.
You've written a number of articles in the newspaper and the media. How many of those airlines do you expect may not make it or recover from the COVID crisis?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Transport Association of Canada
I don't know for sure, but it's a significant number.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
You represent 75% of the small tier III carriers, correct?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Transport Association of Canada
Yes, they're the regional carriers and the smaller carriers. There are some large carriers too, like Porter and Sunwing and so on.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Have the government responses and measures to this date been helpful or beneficial to the aviation industry?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Transport Association of Canada
There have been no plans that are designed for aviation and the high costs that we have as far as the industry goes. People have gone to the regular plans that are offered to everybody else.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Okay.
Mr. D'Angelo, you mentioned that during a national crisis there should be national leadership. To date, have you seen this national leadership?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Urban Transit Association
We've seen it from mayors and transit systems across the country that are continuing to use their limited funds to keep the million people who are working on the front line of the pandemic getting to and from work. Mayors have been out front and warning about whether or not there will be federal support forthcoming.
Conservative
President and Chief Executive Officer, Canadian Urban Transit Association
We have. The door's open and discussions are continuing. It's just a matter of landing on the right split between the senior levels of government, and that's what we're pushing. We're pushing for federal presence at the table.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Mr. Kendrick, with the introduction of low-cost carriers, potentially the Portage la Prairie 2008 incident and the rise in personal vehicles, bus traffic has seen a significant decrease. Would I be correct in saying that?
Senior Vice-President, Greyhound Canada Transportation Corporation
There has absolutely been a decrease, given the urbanization in western Canada and obviously the 2008 incident, which certainly had an impact, and lots of subsidized carriers are also encroaching on the private sector.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
That furthers the divide between urban and rural communities, does it not?
Senior Vice-President, Greyhound Canada Transportation Corporation
It certainly does. It's obviously key to any network, whether Greyhound or any small carrier, that you have small-town Canada feed into the major networks for seamless connectivity.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Greyhound suspended all rural service to British Columbia in October 2018. In exchange, there were rights given to Greyhound in terms of more lucrative routes. Is that correct?
Senior Vice-President, Greyhound Canada Transportation Corporation
Yes, historically it's a federally regulated bus industry that is downloaded to each province. Specifically in the province of British Columbia, yes, correct, there used to be a model whereby you operated the high-density corridors and operated the smaller ones as part of the regulation. However, again, as small-town rural feeders and populations declined and subsidized carriers went out and operated on those routes, we saw a significant decline in ridership, which impacted that whole formula.
Conservative
Todd Doherty Conservative Cariboo—Prince George, BC
Has the carbon tax impacted the bus services or the regional bus services as well?