Evidence of meeting #33 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 39th Parliament, 2nd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was rights.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
I think that would be wonderful. If you do that, I will see that the clerk distributes it to every member.
Mr. Byrne.
11:40 a.m.
Liberal
Gerry Byrne Liberal Humber—St. Barbe—Baie Verte, NL
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
That would indeed be helpful, as would European Union regulation 889/2002, which was proclaimed on May 13, 2002. Just to be clear about this, the reason, Mr. Jean, you may be unaware of the inclusion of baggage in the European Union air passenger bill of rights was because it was not included in the February 2005 proclamation; it was an existing measure that had already passed in 2002.
In other words, it was one of the very first reforms within the European Union related to consumer protections in the airline industry. Being passed in 2002, it was not included in the legislative reform package of 2004-05 because it was already in existence. That's why you're maybe not drawing a direct reference to it being part of the airline passenger bill of rights. You would be correct in that it was not part of that particular legislative package; it already existed, providing those very, very substantial protections to consumers related to their baggage and airlines.
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Mr. Chair, if I may respond, that's what the difficulty is. I think you've made my point in relation to why the department needs some time to assemble our own rights; it's because there are different pieces of legislation that deal with the same issue. Indeed if it's that case and I did miss that, I certainly apologize to the committee for misrepresenting the facts.
At this stage I still haven't seen that regulation. As you said, it was proclaimed before. That's the difficulty with Canadian legislation; we have it in different places. That's why we need to develop a communications plan, so consumers know what their rights are.
As you know, we have the safest, most secure airline in the world, and we have the best rights in the world as well. We want to make sure we continue that for consumers.
11:40 a.m.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
Are there any other comments?
If not, the meeting is adjourned.
Thank you.