Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I thank all of the witnesses for their participation today.
I understand from what you have said that the representatives of the three groups of witnesses support Bill C-10 as presented.
Madam Chair, for the information of all the parliamentarians who are here and who need all of the necessary information in order to vote on Bill C-10 in the House, as well for the stakeholders who have just shared their position on the bill, I want to mention that my colleague Ms. Kelly Block has tabled a notice of motion which reads as follows:
That the committee request any documents, research projects, notes, emails and correspondence that contributed to or discussed the deck “Amendments to the Air Canada Public Participation Act” and that these documents be submitted to the committee by Wednesday, May 11, 2016.
This motion was tabled by Ms. Block within the required timeframe. It is important that our guests have access to this information. From the beginning, all sorts of things have been happening in committee. One day we are told that there were meetings with Air Canada; another day, we are told that there were no meetings with Air Canada. Sometimes we hear that Air Canada met with people; and then we hear that Air Canada did not meet people. In short, it would be important, to support the work of the committee, that members of the committee adopt this motion, and that we be given access to all of the information we need.
There is a reason for this. In fact, the bill itself mentions that, even if Quebec has stated that the term “overhaul” referred to heavy maintenance, the courts recognized that no such maintenance had ever been done in Mississauga. We have also heard that Air Canada concluded an agreement with the Government of Manitoba to create a centre of excellence in western Canada for the maintenance of aircraft in that province. However, we have learned that the agreements have not been concluded yet. The Government of Quebec said the same thing in the brief it sent to members of the committee.
I want to quote two excerpts from that brief. This is the first:
Pending the conclusion of final agreements, the Government of Quebec has agreed to drop its lawsuit in relation to Air Canada's obligations to have an overhaul and maintenance centre.
I repeat that that is “pending the conclusion of final agreements”. And yet today we heard the witnesses tell us that the agreement had been concluded with the Government of Quebec. However that does not seem to be the case; the Government of Quebec itself has said so.
This is another excerpt from the brief:
Additionally, in order to provide for all aspects of the agreements reached, the Government of Quebec is asking that, once Bill C-10 receives royal assent, the legislation come into force after the final agreements described above have been concluded.
Once again, I understand that the agreement with the Government of Quebec has not been concluded.
Later we will be hearing from a representative of the Government of Manitoba who will probably also tell us that the agreement has not yet been signed.
That is why, Madam Chair, it is important that the members of the committee be made aware of this notice of motion, which is quite simple. The purpose of the motion is simply to allow us to have access to all the necessary information. This will help parliamentarians and witnesses taking part in this committee's study of Bill C-10.
Madam Chair, with the authorization of my colleagues, I would like us to adopt this motion immediately so that we may conduct our study with all of the necessary information in hand. This will also help witnesses to form an opinion about the bill.