Thank you for the question, Madam Chair.
In terms of the delegation of authority within the department, I am responsible for issuing exemptions. This particular exemption related to specific requirements for a pilot to have flown an aircraft within the last five years. With the evolution of technology, what we're seeing is that you actually get better training in a simulator, where you can exercise more challenging manoeuvres and test the pilot more than you could safely do in an aircraft. It was our view that we had better and more proficient pilots coming out of the simulator stream. For that reason we made the exemption.
It was my decision, based on the advice I got from the experts we have working in civil aviation, in consultation with my colleague Denis Guindon.