Evidence of meeting #58 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 airports.
A recording is available from Parliament.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
I see.
CATSA, you've mentioned that the revenue doesn't equal funding. Has that always been the case?
12:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Service Delivery, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
Just for clarification, I didn't mention that.
12:50 p.m.
Some hon. members
Oh, oh!
12:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Service Delivery, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
That was mentioned by committee.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
My apologies, Mr. Parry.
Generally speaking then, we'll just throw it open to see who feels safe in answering the question.
12:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Service Delivery, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
I can answer the question, I just didn't say that.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
Is there usually a surplus between the revenue generated and the funding provided? Is this historic? Has it always been that way?
12:50 p.m.
Vice-President, Service Delivery, Canadian Air Transport Security Authority
That's a good question. CATSA, as a crown corporation, does not have direct insight into the revenue stream. As we're funded through parliamentary appropriations, we only have insight into the appropriations that are provided to us, so I wouldn't be able to answer any questions about any discrepancies between revenues and expenditures.
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
Ken Hardie Liberal Fleetwood—Port Kells, BC
We can look in other places for that.
Finally, my last question, with respect—
12:50 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
I think your time is just about up. We want to ensure that Mr. Berthold gets an opportunity to have his last six minutes.
Go ahead.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
I would like to go back to the privatization of airports. Just because the prime minister says that this is not in the offing, I do not automatically believe him. Remember that he promised a small deficit, yet we have a very large deficit right now. So let us be cautious and remain vigilant about this.
Ms. Kinney, with regard to the budget, what does Transport Canada do with the $110 million that CATSA could use to improve operational efficiency and cut wait times for passengers arriving and who have access to secure areas of airports?
12:50 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
Madam Chair, there are some different elements in that. The biggest efficiency element is CATSA Plus, which is a methodology that CATSA has developed, learning from across the world on how to move people most efficiently through airports. They have been developing that system for some time. They're starting to roll that out in some airports within their existing resources. That is the key, I think, in efficiency improvement, but CATSA has made continual investments and changes over the last year.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
I would like to talk again about the difference between what passengers pay for security measures and what is returned to CATSA.
According to the figures disclosed by the Canadian Airports Council, there is a difference of about $110 million.
How does Transport Canada use that money?
12:50 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
Just to clarify, if I understand your question correctly, the air traveller security fee is collected by the air carriers.
12:50 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
The air carriers remit that to the Department of Finance, so any questions on the air traveller security charge, such as any variances that may exist, would all have to be answered by the Department of Finance. I don't have that information.
12:50 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Okay.
In his various statements, the minister indicated that he would like passenger processing times to be improved.
In addition, another substantial increase in passenger traffic is expected at airports this summer.
I had the opportunity to talk to officials at the Montreal-Trudeau airport. They said they were somewhat sceptical about their ability to process passengers arriving from abroad this summer in order to prevent the long lines seen last year.
I am referring here not to the Canada Border Services Agency, but to CATSA and processing the volume of departing passengers.
Given the minister's interest in speeding up client service, does Transport Canada believe that CATSA has sufficient resources to do its job effectively?
I understand that CATSA has what it needs to apply security measures, but its mandate does not include efficiency and quicker processing of passengers. I believe it is up to Transport Canada to address those aspects.
What do you think?
12:55 p.m.
Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport
Just at a very high level, in terms of the CATSA perspective, they have identified what is needed to provide a similar service to last year, with 85% of passengers moving through the airport within 15 minutes. That is the estimate they make based on very rigorous assessments that are analyzed.
That is definitely management of an annual process with a huge amount of fluctuation. CATSA does a significant amount of work to look at how they move their people around on a daily, monthly, weekend basis, and then on various surge periods through the year. It's a very complex process. I have confidence that CATSA can deliver what they have committed to, but that is an average. There will be cases where, as in the case mentioned previously, passengers wait longer.
12:55 p.m.
Conservative
Luc Berthold Conservative Mégantic—L'Érable, QC
Thank you very much.
I would like to go back to the Canadian Airports Council.
Of course, if you take a plane in the early morning, there are not a lot of people. When there are no charter flights and it is not vacation season, there are not very many people either and things go smoothly. Those 15 minutes help a lot.
Getting through airport security can take anywhere from five minutes to over an hour. When transferring from one terminal to another, such as in Montreal, passengers have to go through security again, which can sometimes lead to missed flights.
In your opinion, what should CATSA do to speed up the processing of passengers without neglecting security at any time? I am asking these questions because I am very concerned that user pressure to improve efficiency might at some point undermine security measures.
How could the process be improved?
12:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Airports Council
I think we've spoken to some of the solutions already. CATSA Plus is being rolled out at the first four airports. There is a plan to roll it out to more of the larger airports and higher-volume checkpoints. That plan is a bit stalled, however, until CATSA gets the money to continue the implementation.
I think another part of the problem, though, is the fact that we're every year having to make a case for why CATSA should have the money it needs to do its job. Not only is it inefficient but it also impacts the organization's ability, and ours as an industry, to work more long term and to plan for the future. A funding model that better tracks resources with the revenue that comes in and with the growth in traffic is fundamental. I don't think we can improve things without doing something there. It's an essential part of the problem.
12:55 p.m.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Judy Sgro
Thank you very much.
Thank you to all our witnesses. It was a long two hours, but I think it was a very informative two hours for the committee.
Thank you all very much. Have a good day.
The meeting is adjourned.