Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Mr. Fraser, I really must congratulate you on the Air Canada report. Not only have you produced an extremely well-developed report, but you also propose concrete solutions for legislators. Thank you very much for that report, which is really very well written.
In your statement to the media you mentioned that your work could be compared to “trying to run up the down escalator”: if you stop for a minute, you lose ground and start to come back down. The same goes for Air Canada.
I like the fact that you don't compare Air Canada to other airline companies but rather to VIA Rail, another crown corporation that has been privatized. However, that company manages very well in complying with the Official Languages Act.
In the beginning of your special report, there is a quote from former commissioner Keith Spicer: “There is hardly a technical or administrative problem in language reform that Air Canada could not solve if its attitude were different.” That was in 1976.
The committee is trying to get the president of Air Canada to appear next Monday. He does not seem to want to appear before parliamentarians. What is your reaction to that?