Evidence of meeting #44 for Official Languages in the 40th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was games.
A recording is available from Parliament.
10:30 a.m.
Conservative
10:30 a.m.
Vice-President, Corporate Affairs and Communications, Greater Toronto Airports Authority
No. We don't have to.
10:30 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Ottawa International Airport Authority
As I told you, we don't focus on traffic related to the Olympic Games. This is a project we've been working on for a number of years. It's not recent. I didn't come here with last year's statistics in hand, but I can give you the following figures. Today, out of the 347 front-line employees of the airlines, 220 are bilingual, 63%. Among the franchises, 112 of the 217 employees are bilingual, that is to say 52%. In the rental car sector, 23 of 53 employees are bilingual, 43%. On the airport authority's front-line staff, 100% of employees are bilingual. Among the airport authority's second-line employees—here we're talking about office employees—70 out of 129, 54%, are bilingual.
We aren't stopping at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympic Games: we're focusing on the National Capital for the long term. These figures are much higher than in 1997, when we took over the airport.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
Will those figures change by the time the games are held?
10:35 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Ottawa International Airport Authority
I doubt that.
10:35 a.m.
Vice-President, Planning 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Vancouver Airport Authority
Right now among our own airport authority staff, our volunteers, our front line people who work the customer counters, and students, we have about 71 people who are fully bilingual. Our intent, which we will have in place for the Olympic Games period, is to have in excess of 100.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
10:35 a.m.
Vice-President, Planning 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Vancouver Airport Authority
We had 71.
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
Shelly Glover Conservative Saint Boniface, MB
So there's been no change within the last year.
Mr. Chairman, could we ask the witness to submit those figures later?
10:35 a.m.
Conservative
10:35 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Ottawa International Airport Authority
I'll do that this morning, but later.
10:35 a.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
I'm going to share my time with Mr. D'Amours. I simply have a few brief questions to ask.
Ms. Moore, you are what is called your official languages champion. Do you spend all your time on that subject, or do you have other duties? What percentage of your time do you spend working on official languages?
10:35 a.m.
Liaison, Official Languages 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Vancouver Airport Authority
I do that on a full-time basis.
10:35 a.m.
Liaison, Official Languages 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Games, Vancouver Airport Authority
Yes, on a full-time basis.
10:35 a.m.
Liberal
Pablo Rodriguez Liberal Honoré-Mercier, QC
Mr. Benoit, is there an official languages champion at the authority?
10:35 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Ottawa International Airport Authority
Yes, me!
10:35 a.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
10:35 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Ottawa International Airport Authority
It's going not badly, although sometimes it can go badly. As I told you, it's not Vancouver. My colleagues have different problems because they are in different communities. As I am in the national capital, it gets my attention. It's my responsibility.
10:35 a.m.
Liberal
10:35 a.m.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Ottawa International Airport Authority
Honestly, I devote perhaps 10% of my time to that aspect. My assistant, my director and the vice-president for communications work on it as well. It's possible to be the champion without necessarily doing all the work.
