I guess the material difference here, Mr. Chair, is that what I am proposing introduces a tracking of airline performance indicators of the kind that are regularly tracked and disclosed to the American public under the FAA in Washington.
It adds to this part of the bill a higher degree of specificity in terms of what Canadians will receive either in the annual or in the original biannual report that was contemplated, including the percentage of on-time arrivals of flights, the amount of lost baggage, and the number of oversold flights that occurred in the preceding year, plus, of course, any systemic trends that were observed with respect to those matters. I see that the government has captured this intention in its wording here. At least the department has put it forward. I'm assuming that it has the government's acquiescence and support. It speaks also to the question of systemic trends.
I believe this would be important for Canadians. These seem to be the primary indicators they are looking for. I think we heard some of this from some of the witnesses.
I think it might also help assuage the concerns of some of the witnesses we heard from about the notion of the holus-bolus transfer of the air travel complaints commissioner into the agency, and I think it would drive up transparency and give Canadian consumers something for comparison.
I would think this is something that competing airlines would like to see. There's nothing like transparency in these areas to help focus the mind regarding how well you're doing running your airline company in a very competitive environment.
That was the thinking, Mr. Chair.