As I was saying, I'm here on behalf of the council and its 65 member airports, which comprise all of the airports that are subject to the Official Languages Act. I'm speaking today about the proposed regulations to establish a system of administrative monetary penalties in the event of violations of this act.
Canadian airports subject to the Official Languages Act are strongly committed to providing the highest levels of customer service, including services to travellers in both of Canada's official languages. In fact, several small airports recently wrote to the Minister of Transport asking for assistance in better complying with the Official Languages Act. Airports want to fully comply with their obligations under the act, but the penalty regime proposed by the government won't help airports comply with the regulations. It will only financially penalize those who fail to meet certain requirements.
The CAC submitted a brief during the pre-consultation phase of these regulations. Among our recommendations was a request that this regime apply only to airports with more than four million passengers per year. It is extremely difficult, if not impossible in some cases, to recruit qualified bilingual staff for customer service positions at competitive salaries. In many small communities, and particularly in the airport environment, the main competitor for bilingual talent is the federal government.
The CAC also has serious concerns about the timing of the implementation of these regulations. The council is currently involved in a case before the Supreme Court of Canada. This case will determine the entities covered by the Official Languages Act and the requirements they must meet. So, although the regulations define the penalties to be imposed, the exact obligations of airports remain unclear and must still be clarified by the courts. To put things in context, 150 million passengers passed through Canadian airports in 2024, and only 77 complaints were filed nationwide. In a frontline service sector, it is always difficult to achieve perfect compliance at all times.
Language rights are of fundamental importance, and airports are fully committed to them. Therefore, rather than punishing airports when certain situations do not fully meet the requirements, we would like to see the government take proactive measures to help airports achieve compliance with this act, including scheduled financial support and greater clarity regarding specific expectations and obligations.
I will now turn the floor over to Mr. Bogusz.