Minister, you were talking about complaints earlier. I can tell you that we put the same question to the Air Canada people when they appeared before this committee. Out of 30 and I don't know how many million passengers, only about 109 complaints have been filed. It's true that's not a lot.
We asked who had filed those complaints. We asked how many complaints had been filed by Anglophones. The answer was “zero”. All the complainants were Francophones. The Air Canada representative even said that, when they did complain, Anglophones did so verbally and it was due to the fact that they didn't like French being spoken in the aircraft. You can read the minutes: that's what was said.
You refer to Jean-Lesage International Airport in Quebec City and to the fact that you'd like to see the clientele served in French. Once again, it must be said that the question isn't the number of people served, but the fact that Canada is officially bilingual across the country. We Francophones outside Quebec, who live in minority communities here and there, want to be served in our language when we fly. There are two official languages, and French is one of them.
When 5 or 8% percent of customers at an airport don't speak English, Air Canada, if I may say so, couldn't care less. But we don't have a choice; we can't travel from Vancouver to Ottawa in a canoe. We have to take the plane, so we shut up and get on board.
Air Canada bought Jazz. In regions like the Atlantic Region, you no longer see Air Canada. In Moncton, Jazz has taken its place. They didn't name it Air Canada, and, like everywhere in the country, it has enabled these people to reduce their official language responsibilities. In your brief, I see the following:
By the same reasoning, the Government was not prepared to fully support Recommendation 4, which requested that the new bill stipulate that Jazz, Air Canada Vacations and Aeroplan be subject to Part IV, language of service, of the Official Languages Act.
The Commissioner of Official Languages has made recommendations to that effect. Air Canada went through the back door and bought Jazz and retained Jazz's identity.
Your lawyer, Mr. Pigeon, says that we can't force these people, like in the case of Petro-Canada. I don't agree. Yes, we can. We're here to make laws and we can add provisions. The Supreme Court isn't going to tell the Parliament of Canada that it doesn't have the right to subject Air Canada and Jazz to the government's law.