As a panel, we were—I think the best word would be—gobsmacked, when we were told by aviation stakeholders that this was their number one pressing issue. When we met with airports, airlines, user groups, consumers groups, the thing that shocked us—and this is a sector that can barely agree on anything—was that they came out with a near unanimous consensus that this was becoming a bottleneck to their activities.
We looked at this quite closely. We looked at several models around the world, and while funding is definitely a key concern—CATSA will certainly repeat that their funding hasn't increased with the increase in passenger traffic—there are, based on our observations at least, deeper issues than simply funding.
Because of the way it's currently structured, with Transport Canada as a regulator, there are some limitations to the model of having CATSA as a service delivery provider and middleman, and then the contractors who actually provide the services on the ground at the various airports. We've provided suggestions in the report on how that model can be improved so that the issues raised by industry, stakeholders, and airports can be better addressed.