Good morning, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee.
Allow me to introduce myself once again. My name is Paul Benoit. I am President and Chief Executive Officer of the Ottawa International Airport Authority.
I'd like to thank the committee for inviting me here today to discuss this matter that, like you, we believe is of major importance. I welcome the opportunity to update the committee on our activities as they relate to the Official Languages Act.
In just eight weeks Canada will welcome the world to Vancouver and the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Although it is highly unlikely that someone from outside Canada who is travelling to the Olympics would pass through our airport in Ottawa, serving Canadians in both official languages is still extremely important to us. We are the nation's capital, and with that comes a responsibility of setting the standard in everything we do.
First, I would like to say that we always strive to offer our services in French and English. The same is true of announcements and signage. It goes without saying that this invitation to appear before the committee urged us to take a closer look at our activities in this regard. First, we reviewed airport authority staff, that is to say our own employees. All our employees who are in direct contact with the public, our front-line employees, are fluently bilingual. This in fact is a condition for promotion to a front-line position.
Do front-line staff welcome customers in both official languages? Most of the time, that is the case, but they are sometimes welcomed in only one language. We continue to inform our staff of their obligation and commitment to serve our customers in both official languages. Our employees are able to welcome passengers in both official languages. We must ensure they do so systematically.
However, we have neglected one aspect of our obligations, which we are quickly correcting at this time. We discovered that messages in voice-mail boxes had not been recorded in French and English. This omission on our part is about to be corrected. However, I want to assure you that we always call back people who have left telephone messages in the requested language.
We also make it mandatory for all announcements within the terminal to be done in both French and English, and also all of our signage, with few exceptions. They're very few, I might add. We have made sure that all signage that we directly control is bilingual.
We have carefully reviewed the report of the Commissioner of Official Languages concerning our operations. That report clearly shows that, for all aspects that we control directly, we are doing a very good job of delivering services in the official languages chosen by our clientele.
In fact, in the first three months of this year, the time covered by the most recent report, we received just three complaints.
In the first quarter of 2009, which the most recent report of the Commissioner of Official Languages concerns, and during which 1.5 million persons went through our airport, there were only three complaints, one complaint for every 500,000 passengers.
We would prefer no complaints, of course, but in the context of knowing that we are audited more than any other airport in the country, we believe that we are doing well in this regard. As I said a moment ago, we are doing very well where we have direct control.
I repeat, we are doing well in areas where we have direct control.
When the authority was given responsibility for the airport in 1997, that responsibility was accompanied by the obligation to ensure that tenants operating franchises in the airport, such as Second Cup, Harvey's, D'Arcy McGee's, Budget, Hertz and others, complied with the Official Languages Act.
Can we ask our vendors to change a unilateral sign? Absolutely, and we do. Can we ask them to ensure that all front line employees are fluently bilingual? Absolutely, but compliance is another matter.
It is true that we could terminate the contracts of franchise operators that do not comply with the act. However, if we excluded all suppliers that did not comply 100%, and if I focused on that issue at greater length, the airport would be deserted. Not only would passengers not be served in the language of their choice, there would be no service in the airport at all.
I'm sure the committee has heard just how difficult it is for retailers to fill these low-wage positions. Please allow me to give you a brief insight into what retailers are facing every day, not just at our airport, but across the country.
In the past decade, the Canadian retail sector has been expanding and annual sales are about to reach $1 billion. To operate properly, this sector depends on a very large number of employees. In a recent survey by the Retail Council of Canada, 70% of respondent merchants stated that staff recruitment was their biggest challenge.
We see that challenge in our airport. A number of franchises among our tenants offer their employees a full plan including health care, dental care, eye care, free parking, sick leave and paid vacation leave, a pension plan paid for by the employer, uniforms, shoes and meals. All these benefits are offered for them to serve coffee and hamburgers. That is not the norm.
However, their staff turnover rate is nearly 60% for 2009, and the year isn't over yet. Another fact should also be taken into consideration. We are currently witnessing a demographic change in the retail sector. Statistics Canada predicts that, in the next five years, the vast majority of new jobs in the retail industry, 75%, will be filled by immigrants, including many from countries where neither English nor French are spoken.
Companies such as Home Depot and Walmart are now offering English as a second language training courses to their employees. While we want our vendors' employees to speak French and English, as we do, it is often difficult finding employees who can speak either language.
In an ideal world, we would offer language training to all our vendors and all their staff, but this is not an ideal world. While we are held to the same standards as federal government departments, we do not have access to the same funding opportunities for language training, and we certainly can't afford it within our current budgets.
We applied to the Federal Innovation Fund for funding to provide language training. Our application was rejected because the Treasury Board does not consider the airport authority a federal institution, and we were politely asked to refrain from renewing our application. If we are required to meet the same standards as the federal institutions, we should be able to have access to the same resources so that we can meet them. If we admit that the airport and concession operators are in a position to offer language training, if it costs $2,000 to hire and train an employee and the employee leaves after a few months, those costs would have disastrous impact. It is increasingly difficult to find workers who are ready to fill these positions and who have the desired skills, that is mastery of both official languages, which we greatly need.
We need to put this issue into perspective. Every single one of the airport authority's front line staff is bilingual, but they are not the only ones who serve the public. When we factor in the concessions, the rent-a-car companies, and the airlines, more than 57% of our front line workers speak both official languages. This is 20% higher than the bilingual composition of the City of Ottawa.
It is true that we could replace our franchise operators with other tenants, but the new tenants would be faced with the same problem and would have as much difficulty recruiting sufficient numbers of bilingual staff.
If it sounds as if I'm defending these businesses, I don't deny it. The challenge for them is huge, and nobody understands the issue better than they do. They would prefer to be able to serve the public in both official languages every single time. It would be good for their business, and they know it.
Ensuring that franchise operators at the airport comply with the Official Languages Act is a problem, and we know it. We are aware that this is our problem. We are doing our best to try to work with the franchisees to find a solution.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
