Official Languages Committee on June 15th, 2016

[Calin Rovinescu]

If it is a public law, as you say, this act applies, whether or not I issue a directive. However, as you well know since you are a lawyer, collective agreements can create confusion, because unions may have a different point of view. In some cases, for instance when the seniority principle applies to pilots or flight attendants, employment rights come into play. Often—

[Nicola Di Iorio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

If I may, sir—

[Calin Rovinescu]

I am often asked why we end up going to court.

[Nicola Di Iorio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

My time is limited—

[Calin Rovinescu]

We go to court to talk about this type of—

[Nicola Di Iorio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

I have to interrupt you, because my time is limited.

[Calin Rovinescu]

Yes.

[Nicola Di Iorio, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

You are still discussing, almost 30 years after the Air Canada Public Participation Act was passed. It seems to me that, 30 years after the act was passed, there should be much more than discussions; Air Canada should ensure that the contracts are in compliance with the act.

[Calin Rovinescu]

Things change with time. Parliament is deliberating on medical assistance in dying. Thirty or even 10 years ago, the ability to end someone's life was not as clear as that, Mr. Di Iorio. Things can certainly change. They will change over time.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Thank you very much.

Ms. Lapointe, go ahead.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Already? I'm sorry.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

I'm sorry, it's actually my turn.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

Yes, that's it. It's Mr. Samson's turn. That's why I was surprised.

[The Chair, Liberal, Denis Paradis]

Oh, it's your turn, Mr. Samson? No problem.

Go ahead, Mr. Samson.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

I'm all excited, thank you.

[Linda Lapointe, Liberal, Rivière-des-Mille-Îles, QC]

I knew it wasn't my turn.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Thank you very much for being here today. I appreciate the dialogue. It is extremely important, As my colleagues said, it's not a question of willingness, it's a matter of the responsibility we have.

You often mention the very low rate of complaints at 0.000024%. I am going to focus on this argument.

According to your evaluation, there is a dissatisfaction rate of 6%. And 6% of the number of travellers is the equivalent of 2.5 million Canadians—at least I assume that they are Canadians. The majority, 80%, of the dissatisfied people is probably made up of francophones and Acadians. This means that, compared to the total population of francophones in Canada, which is in the order 7.5 million, one-third of francophone Canadians complain. That's huge.

What do you think?

[Calin Rovinescu]

I am sure that all the political parties around this table would like to have a 94% success rate in an election.

When we say that 94% of people are satisfied, it doesn't mean that all the other people complain. The survey asked people whether they felt that Air Canada has met their expectations. This does not mean that the other people are not satisfied.

We would love to have a satisfaction rate of 100%, and we will continue to work toward that. We feel that we have made a great deal of progress. We have a satisfaction rate of 94%, which is three points higher than last year. So the satisfaction rate continues to grow.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

I appreciate that, but my concern is that the 2.5 million figure represents one-third of all francophones. That is huge for us. The language issue is therefore very important.

Furthermore, what do you do to promote language rights? Do you have a system that notifies customers that they have the right to be served in the language of their choice? Do you have a system in place that encourages people to ask questions or to file a complaint?

[Calin Rovinescu]

Thank you.

I will ask Ms. Meloul to answer.

[Arielle Meloul, Vice-President, Human Resources, Air Canada]

First, I must say that this is done at two levels. First, we are very active about educating our employees. They know that they have the obligation and duty to provide services in both official languages. If they are not able to do so, they must notify the customers, as Mr. Rovinescu said, and they must find someone who is able to do so. Second, our customers know that they have the right to receive services in both official languages. Our employees know it and they have the tools to deliver the services.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

Perhaps there should be a form in Air Canada’s booklets to allow people to make comments or complaints.

[Arielle Meloul]

Absolutely. It is also possible to do so in our customer satisfaction surveys.

[Darrell Samson, Liberal, Sackville—Preston—Chezzetcook, NS]

In our questions to the commissioner, we talked about the number of registered complaints. Do you have an internal system to receive your passengers’ complaints regarding official languages? The 54 complaints come from the office of the commissioner. Do you also receive complaints? Do you have a figure for the internal complaints received?

[Calin Rovinescu]

Ms. Sénécal, could you answer?