Yes, but, Mr. Minister, the government and the minister of the day put conditions on the privatization, back in 1988. It was the Progressive Conservative government of Brian Mulroney. When Air Canada was privatized, Don Mazankowski was the Minister of Finance and responsible for the legislation. It would have been too easy to say, 15 or 20 years later, that Air Canada had been sold to a Chilean airline and that its headquarters would be in San Diego from now on. The government at that time put provisions in place to protect jobs. You know, Minister, we are talking about 4,500 jobs in Montreal, Mississauga, Winnipeg, Calgary and Vancouver at an average salary of $60,000, I am sure of it. We are not talking about minimum wage jobs. When that legislation was passed, there was a requirement to keep the headquarters in the Montreal Urban Community, to comply with the Official Languages Act, and to keep the three service and maintenance centres.
I can tell you that the testimony we heard from the Air Canada people was not at all reassuring. Ms. Sénécal, who is the Assistant General Counsel with the Law Branch at Air Canada, told us that things would continue just because she said they would. She was not able to guarantee it until 2098.
Would you be prepared to consider a legislative amendment with some teeth? It would prevent Air Canada from doing indirectly what they cannot do directly. It is funny to see a sovereigntist like myself defending well-paying jobs across Canada. We should pass a legislative amendment to ensure that, even if a unit were sold, the original obligations in the 1988 legislation would remain in effect. Would you be prepared to consider that?