Mr. Chair, let's take Air Canada Online or Aeroplan, for example. The points accumulated under Aeroplan can't be used to buy a ticket with WestJet or CanJet or another corporation. Ultimately, we can only buy our Air Canada ticket; this is a system specific to Canada. It has somewhat set it aside.
When I shop at Sears and buy a product, I'm given an air miles credit. I don't have to request them; they appear directly on my account statement.
When I say Aeroplan, I'm talking about customer service. A Canadian can phone Aeroplan because Air Canada offers this service. It's Air Canada that benefits after the fact. We can call Aeroplan to buy a plane ticket from Bathurst to Vancouver and be told: “I'm sorry, I don't speak French.” They're not required to speak French to me. And yet this is an Air Canada service.
As regards Air Canada Online, if I buy a plane ticket at the airport counter, from that I understand, service must be offered to me in both official languages.
Thanks to the new technology, if I press “1” on the telephone, I'll be served in English in at least two minutes; if I press “2”, I'll be served in French. We're in second place, of course; that's hard to accept, but that's the way it is. There can't be two number ones; there has to be a number “1” and a number “2”. We have to accept that. If I press “2”, I get service in French, using this new technology. The minister was clear on this subject: he won't go ahead with the new technology; things will be the way they were before.
As regards Air Canada Online, the minister contends in his brief that the government isn't ready to support Part IV. At least that's what I understand. “At this time, we do not believe that Air Canada Online falls under federal jurisdiction...” That's what's written. I agree with you because it isn't written in the federal act.
Is there a constitutional barrier? Air Canada Online isn't a provincial jurisdiction. Can we add to the act that Air Canada Online must be bilingual? Yes or no?