Evidence of meeting #30 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 41st Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was aveos.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Liberal
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
So the employees did good work. They were former Air Canada employees who should know the job. So they did good work, right?
Liberal
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
Did Air Canada still owe Aveos money? Had all of the money owed under the contract been paid?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
No. Actually, as I mentioned, Aveos owes us approximately $35 million.
Liberal
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
Were you going to look elsewhere? Even though you were satisfied, could you have gone to other companies for overhaul work? We know that overhauling involves taking the engines apart and so on. That is third level maintenance. Were you going to go elsewhere? Did you use companies other than Aveos?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
Yes, that is right. We deal with approximately 75 suppliers, including several in Canada. So we deal with more than one supplier.
Liberal
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
So you agree with me in saying that Air Canada did no overhaul work.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
No, I do not agree with you on that.
Liberal
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
Ms. Sénécal said so in December 2010. You do no overhaul work at Air Canada.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
No, I did not say that. If you had asked your question properly, as I just explained, if you had listened to what I said before—
Liberal
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
Mr. Rovinescu, I am quite capable of asking questions. I have been an MP for 15 years. Unfortunately, I don't get a $5 million bonus. I have always dreamed of seeing the Six Million Dollar Man, but at least I have a guy who earns $5 million in front of me today. Out of respect, when I ask you questions, please answer. Is that okay?
I want to know if you do overhaul work. It was clear for Mr. Mazankowski in 1988. He wanted to privatize Air Canada, first of all to protect its headquarters in Montreal, secondly to ensure that bilingualism was respected—not just messages on cassettes, but both official languages, and thirdly, to protect the overhaul and maintenance facilities.
I realize that presently, Air Canada has employees that do maintenance work. However, there is no overhaul facility. The reason Aveos was doing that for you was because it had the overhaul facility.
Now, you can go ahead and serve up Judge Newbould's decision to me; I read the whole thing. As far as I am concerned, you must protect these overhaul facilities. I do hope you are going to rehire those employees. In my opinion, Air Canada's real problem is the fact that the company does not follow the law, because the overhaul facilities are supposed to be in Montreal, Winnipeg and Toronto.
Why are you now doing business with the overhaul facility in Windsor?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
Mr. Coderre, I just explained that Air Canada is compliant with the act. You can say what you like as many times as you like. You can get as worked up as you like—
Liberal
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
I will say it five million times if I have to. That is not a problem.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
Air Canada is in compliance with the act. If you do not agree with Judge Newbould's decision, what do you want me to say?
Liberal
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
Mr. Rovinescu, If I was Minister of Transport, I would not have waited until yesterday to meet with you. I would have met with you immediately.
My work is to ensure that you are compliant with the act. We may disagree on its interpretation. If it were me, I would have hauled you into court. We would have discussed and settled all of this in court. Judge Newbould did not make the distinction between major overhaul and maintenance. As my colleague stated earlier, this is not just about having the oil changed. That was the judge's interpretation; it should have been appealed, but that is another story.
Am I to understand that you now want to turn to Premier Aviation for overhaul work? What is your relationship with Ronnie Di Bartolo?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
We are going to carry out our maintenance plans with several suppliers. There is not just one supplier, as I just explained to you. We have with us a list of about 62 suppliers in Canada that are located in Alberta, British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario and Quebec. We intend to encourage several of these suppliers. We are not just talking about repairing aircraft, but also repairing engines and various components. From those 67 suppliers, we will find the ones we wish to deal with.
Liberal
Denis Coderre Liberal Bourassa, QC
I am going to give the floor to my colleague Kevin Lamoureux, from Winnipeg. The people of Winnipeg also want to protect their jobs.
Do you intend to reuse the hangars? My interest is in protecting the aeronautical industry, to ensure that there are jobs in Montreal, Winnipeg and Toronto. Your job is to protect the overhaul facilities. Do you intend to do maintenance and take back the hangars that Aveos has abandoned? I agree with you, they are a bunch of yahoos. And today, employees have no money to put food on the table. What are you going to do with these overhaul facilities?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
As I have just stated about the overhaul facilities, we are not going to buy back Aveos. We are not going to buy back a company that has gone bankrupt. We supported them for eight years, and we have no intention of buying them out. We intend to work with several suppliers, including those in Quebec, in Montreal, to do the work. As I already mentioned, we are in compliance with the act and we will choose suppliers who have the capacity and the necessary expertise to repair our aircraft.
Mr. Lamoureux.
Liberal
Kevin Lamoureux Liberal Winnipeg North, MB
Thank you.
I want to be fairly clear on the point that when Air Canada shifted its responsibilities over to Aveos, I was there with the employees, and the employees felt that Air Canada was shafting them. When Air Canada or Aveos then shut down their plant in Winnipeg, I was there at the international airport in Winnipeg, and the employees felt that Air Canada was shafting them. When Air Canada employees went to the Manitoba legislature in large numbers, in the hundreds, supported by many others, I was there when Air Canada was shafting them.
Just the other day on the Hill, we had Air Canada employees from Quebec, from Ontario, and some from Winnipeg, I understand, and they were explaining how Air Canada was shafting them.
It seems to me that people across Canada recognize that Air Canada as a corporation—and if we cut through all the crap—is in clear violation of the law. They're looking to the government to take legal action against Air Canada in order to get Air Canada to fulfill their requirements under the law. These are important jobs to these communities. The jobs that are being taken away are going to have a serious negative impact on those local communities.
Does Air Canada—
Conservative
The Chair Conservative Merv Tweed
Mr. Lamoureux, I have to interrupt you there. Your time is up.
I'll give you a brief response if you want. If not, we'll move to the next question. Be very brief, please.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Canada
I'm not sure there was a question there, but I will say the following. There is no question that Air Canada is in compliance with this act. You may not agree with that, you may not like that, but Air Canada is in compliance with this act.
Running a company like an airline, unless you have not been following what has gone on all over the world, where you've had.... In the United States alone, American Airlines has gone through a financial restructuring, United Airlines has gone through a financial restructuring, Delta Airlines has gone through a financial restructuring, Continental twice, U.S. Airways twice.... The great legacy brands, such as TWA and Pan Am.... I hope you watch TV from time to time, because Pan Am makes for a great television program today.
For airlines to remain competitive, there are going to be situations where companies are sold. In this case, a company was sold, with a lot of support from Air Canada.
I resent the suggestion that Air Canada is not in compliance with the act. I resent the suggestion.... I'd like you to define the word “shafted”, which I think is a ridiculous word to use in a committee, and I'd like very much to understand what it is that was your question, which I failed to understand.
Thank you.