Evidence of meeting #36 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was information.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
I was just going to confirm the dates, Mr. Chair. I'm more than happy to defer to Ms. Brown. I didn't really understand. We have—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
We have Wednesday, December 1, and Tuesday, December 7, for the Air Canada issues that were presented. The minister will attend on Monday, December 6, from 3:30 to 4:30.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
That was my question, because I don't know if we have enough time to deal with the ACPPA issue.
I just want to confirm something with Mr. Guimond in relation to that issue. You talked about air cargo last time. It's not in relation to air cargo, but in relation to the employees and the obligations of Air Canada under ACPPA. Is that correct, just to confirm that with you?
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
Yes.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You talked about Air Canada's issues. I'm listening to you live and, perhaps as a result of my level of bilingualism, I couldn't follow you.
The noise—that isn't necessarily Air Canada. You mentioned Air Canada's issues, noise and maintenance. A distinction has to be drawn between the two. Even if the committee meets in camera, I wanted everyone to draw the distinction.
As I've had occasion to mention, I was expecting—
Conservative
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
All right.
Oh, oh! I maintain what I said.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
Just for clarification, when I mentioned Air Canada issues, I meant the maintenance and the ACPPA, but also that the noise issue involves the entire industry.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
Perfect.
To answer Mr. Jean's question, I think we should start on December 1, by having a meeting of...
At the briefing session on Wednesday, December 1, from 3:30 to 4:30 p.m., the officials could brief us separately on both subjects. Personally, I think that, if we invite officials, we won't have enough time in one hour for two briefing sessions.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
Exactement, that was my position, that there's not enough time. In fact, I thought if we were going to have the first hour for officials on noise and the second hour on ACPPA, then after that we could call in Air Canada to answer the questions regarding ACPPA, and also, possibly, at the same meeting, we could have Air Canada or an airport come in immediately thereafter to talk about the noise issue.
I was wondering if we could maybe talk about that right now, Mr. Chair, in respect of who we'd want from the industry as far as airport noise is concerned. I know that noise at Vancouver and Montreal was an issue, and of course the airlines possibly might be an issue too. So I was hoping to hear from other members about what witnesses they would propose for that, so we could deal with that now and the clerk could get on with ordering that. We could do that immediately after the officials came.
Does that sound all right, Monsieur Guimond?
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
On that point, Mr. Chair, are we just going to be investigating the larger airports or are we going to look at some of the smaller ones too? I know that in the Toronto area we have two private airports, one at Toronto Island and another Buttonville, where the airport is to close. But there certainly have been issues of noise. So I'm wondering if Mr. Guimond is looking at having the study considering more than just the larger airports. Is this going to be a comprehensive study?
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
If I may, I think my understanding was that we were going to expand it to include all airports, because obviously every jurisdiction has challenges.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
And that is another question. I think there's also Turtle Lake in Quebec, an aerodrome. I'm not sure, but there are others, and we possibly might want to consider not just airports but aerodromes as well.
The other option, of course, is that I understand that the CTA does collect complaints and we possibly might want to bring them in, or at least notify them that we're going to be talking about this, and they might give us some specifics on noise complaints, where they are getting most of them and things like that. Doing that might eliminate the clerk's issue of finding places that actually have substantive complaints on the issue.
Bloc
Michel Guimond Bloc Montmorency—Charlevoix—Haute-Côte-Nord, QC
The answer to my colleague Ms. Brown's question is in the very wording of the motion. I referred to airports in urban areas. I didn't draw a distinction between several hundreds of thousands of passengers above and below. The criterion is airports in urban areas.
Conservative
Brian Jean Conservative Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB
What did you think of my suggestion about the CTA and bringing them in?
Conservative
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
Just in relation to the meetings, Mr. Chair, at one point we had Wednesday, December 8, under discussion. Is that one now off the calendar altogether?
Conservative
Conservative
Lois Brown Conservative Newmarket—Aurora, ON
I am definitely not available that afternoon. I think my staff had relayed that I was, but I'm definitely not available.
Conservative
Colin Mayes Conservative Okanagan—Shuswap, BC
I looked at my calendar and I have some challenges too with that same date. So I just have a little bit of a concern.