Evidence of meeting #120 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was noise.
A recording is available from Parliament.
11:15 a.m.
Liberal
Angelo Iacono Liberal Alfred-Pellan, QC
Mr. Laquerre, how did you come up with all that? What are you basing this on?
11:15 a.m.
As an Individual
I'm not an aeronautics expert. I based this on the testimony of two experts, who testified in a report that was sent to a former Liberal MP who drafted an investigation report. These two aeronautics experts are Cyril Charpentier, a Boeing 747 captain, and Yan Burelle.
11:15 a.m.
Liberal
Angelo Iacono Liberal Alfred-Pellan, QC
My time is up, but it would be great if you could forward those two documents to us.
11:15 a.m.
As an Individual
Sure. They're also attached to the report written by MP Marlene Jennings, entitled “Airport Noise Management: Challenges and Recommendations”.
11:15 a.m.
Conservative
Ron Liepert Conservative Calgary Signal Hill, AB
I'm going to make a couple of comments. We have some very passionate witnesses here today, and so I want to get a couple of things on the record and get some responses to them.
First of all, I represent a riding in Calgary. Our riding is a good half an hour's drive from the airport. Yet, within the last three years, because they have put in a new runway in Calgary, my area is now in a corridor that never used to be there. I get complaints similar to what many of you are registering today. This is something I'm very familiar with, not your particular situations, but a similar situation in Calgary.
The difficulty we have, however, is that as elected officials, we have to trust those with the expertise, and I would hope that's what Nav Canada has. We have a very safe environment for our aircraft. That isn't to say that we can't question them, and we have.
The reality also is that we're a bit of a victim of our own success in Canada. In my particular case in Calgary, the number of flights has literally tripled in the last few years. People want to fly. They want to fly with convenient schedules.
The second thing is that we've become a society that no longer goes to shopping malls. We like to shop online. We want those goods the next morning. These are all the things I think we have to take into account when we're doing this study.
The final comment I will make, which our first witness talked about, is on pilot training. We are told that in Canada today, we have a shortage of some 3,000 pilots. The airline industries are that short of pilots. If they are able to fill those roles, there is going to be a lot more training required, and I guess you have to do it where there's a take-off and landing strip.
With all of the comments I've made, I don't think any of us should be under the illusion that this is a problem that's going to go away in the very near future.
I wanted to make some of those comments to see if anybody had any response to them.
11:20 a.m.
Conservative
Ron Liepert Conservative Calgary Signal Hill, AB
How do we deal with the fact that customers want to order online? They want their product tomorrow morning. That means we have to have overnight flights.
We have to balance what our constituents as customers want with the delicacy of the problems that all of you are experiencing.
11:20 a.m.
Liberal
11:20 a.m.
Director, Markland Wood Homeowners Association
Thank you for your comments, but this isn't our area of expertise. Obviously we're just here because of the issues that have happened over the years and continue.
11:20 a.m.
Conservative
Ron Liepert Conservative Calgary Signal Hill, AB
I would like you to be in our position and help us, because we're not experts either.
11:20 a.m.
Director, Markland Wood Homeowners Association
Okay.
You said people want to fly with convenient schedules. What's so convenient about flying at night? Why do two or three planes have to come in from Cuba at 2 o'clock in the morning?
11:20 a.m.
Director, Markland Wood Homeowners Association
Well, that's the question.
Why can't there be larger planes? Consolidate. Why can't the industry, from one standpoint the travel industry, create larger planes and consolidate the three little ones into one big one? And do it during the day, so they don't have to come in at 2 o'clock or 3 o'clock in the morning from Las Vegas and Cuba and wherever else down south.
With regard to shopping online, what's the issue? Why does it have to be within 24 hours? Really, that cargo is only 12% of the flights coming into Pearson at this point in time. That's the statistic.
11:20 a.m.
Conservative
Ron Liepert Conservative Calgary Signal Hill, AB
One of the remedies that were suggested to us was that cargo traffic at Pearson could be diverted to Hamilton, as an example. That is a suggestion. In cities like Calgary, that's not an option, because there is no “Hamilton” within proximity of Calgary. I guess what I'm trying to just lay on the table is that, as elected officials, we represent everyone, and these are the kinds of things we have to balance off. We hear all the time about balancing off the economy with the environment. One of the things we've been told is that by some of these consolidated routes that have come forward, there's a significant reduction in greenhouse gas and emissions. Again, those are the kinds of balances that I think we have to take into account.
11:20 a.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Thank you, Madam Chair.
I want to thank all our witnesses for being here today. Since I have so many questions and so little time, I'm going to ask my questions quickly and hope for brief answers.
Mrs. Domingue, in your presentation, you referred to a document prepared by the Montérégie public health department that demonstrates the harm of noise pollution. However, departmental witnesses who testified before us said no such study had been done.
Was this study carried out by the provincial government? Do you have the study at your disposal? If so, could you send it to us?
11:20 a.m.
President, Comité antipollution des avions de Longueuil
Yes, the study was presented during the public consultation, because an analysis had been done based on data from noise stations as part of Dessau Environnement's noise study. The Montérégie public health department analyzed the documentation and then presented it and indicated that there was a real province-wide risk. The document is included in the brief. I can give it to you later.
11:20 a.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
Thank you very much.
I have two more questions for you. You mentioned flight schools. We're going to come back to that subject later for another study, which will be about flight training schools. I hope we'll get to hear from you again, especially with regard to noise pollution issues. You said that these small planes are flying without hush kits. That's certainly not because hush kits don't exist.
Has Transport Canada abdicated its responsibility to enforce these regulations?
11:25 a.m.
President, Comité antipollution des avions de Longueuil
Hush kits have been certified, but the construction process is still under way. We sent letters to multiple ministers of transport asking them to at least certify hush kits, but without success. It took a class action for hush kits to be certified, because Transport Canada didn't want to do it.
11:25 a.m.
NDP
Robert Aubin NDP Trois-Rivières, QC
That is absolutely unbelievable. I'll have to stop you there because I have a lot more questions to get through, and we'll probably get a chance to talk about small aircraft later during our study on flight schools. Our study is about large airports.
What impact does Montreal's Trudeau airport have on noise in Saint-Hubert?
11:25 a.m.
President, Comité antipollution des avions de Longueuil
Saint-Hubert Airport in Longueuil recently announced that it could accommodate large carriers, and that stirred up major concerns. There was already a noise problem with the small aircraft, and it will only get worse if planes from Montreal's Trudeau Airport are sent to Saint-Hubert Airport. Don't forget, Saint-Hubert is Montreal's satellite airport. If Montreal doesn't have enough room, it sends planes to Saint-Hubert Airport.
11:25 a.m.
President, Comité antipollution des avions de Longueuil
It can happen any time of day, any day of the week. There are no restrictions and no curfews at Saint-Hubert Airport. Touch-and-go landings at the flight schools are the only time when there are restrictions. So users have free rein to use the airport.
