Transport Committee on June 16th, 2020

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

Minister, thank you for being here.

I just want to build quickly on the comments of my two colleagues who preceded me. They mentioned being in touch with their constituents and their concerns with regard to the airlines, refunds and so on.

Minister, my question to you is simply this: Do you believe air passengers in Canada should be entitled to the same air rights as passengers in the European Union and the United States, yes or no?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

I believe that Canada's passenger protection rights were well designed, although I admit we did not anticipate the effects of this pandemic. That is something we are going to address in the future with respect to the question of refunds and vouchers.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

So you will be looking at the passenger protection of rights.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Yes. We have always said it is something that we, if need be, are going to adjust going forward. Nobody anticipated the dramatic effects of this pandemic, and it is something that requires clarification. It is spelled out in the tariffs, which are the contracts, all that fine print when you buy a ticket, so it's not as clear-cut as many people think.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Minister, quickly, can you provide any assurance that my constituents and those who are writing all of us will be getting refunds if they so desire?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

What I can tell you is that I am encouraging the airlines, in fact, I'm expecting the airlines, when they're in a position to compensate, to compensate as generously as possible the passengers who have had their flights cancelled. That is what I am saying at the moment.

We are, going forward, looking at addressing this issue in the passenger protection rights.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

I'm going to move over to small and medium-sized regional airports. The Niagara District Airport in my riding, and which services my colleague's area, is celebrating its 90th anniversary.

In December, the Regional Community Airports of Canada proposed an expansion of the airport capital assistance program to $95 million.

Minister, what's the department's response to that, and what does it currently spend?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

The capital assistance program, or ACAP, has been around for about 20 years, and I believe it spends in the area of $40 million annually. It's a very popular program, and I'm very much aware that there are airports and associations that would like to expand it as we go forward, because it is such a helpful program, especially for small airports that don't have a lot of funding.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Yes, I'm aware of our local airport putting in a $1.5-million request.

Minister, has money flowed this year from ACAP?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

I will defer to my deputy minister.

[Michael Keenan, Deputy Minister, Department of Transport]

Thank you, Minister.

Under the ACAP program, the money is flowing on the regular cycle, so we're going through the approvals of the submissions we have received. The 2019 submissions have been approved, and we'll be turning our attention to the 2020 submissions. The program is continuing to run at the full subscription of about $40 million a year, as you indicated.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Thank you.

Due to COVID, is the federal government developing any other programs to support regional and community airports?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

The answer is yes. Because we have to address the greatest need, we are primarily focused on ensuring, in particular, that remote and northern airports still have the capability to function so that we can maintain essential resupply and medevac and bring essential people into those communities. We know they have been hard hit, just like the big airlines, because they have had a significant drop in passengers. They're feeling the economic pinch. They have spoken to us and we are working with them.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Great.

The mix of the governance structure for a number of these small and regional airports means they're unable to apply for government funding and make use of instruments such as the wage subsidy program. Are you aware of this and working on it?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

We are looking at the needs of small airports, particularly those with scheduled flights and those that provide essential resupply. That is where our focus is at the moment. The airports are allowed to access all the government programs where the organization or the individuals are eligible.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Thank you, Minister.

Also, you've allocated $2.8 million for the negotiations of the potential transfer of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority to a non-profit entity.

Minister, what is involved in that $2.8 million? Is it simply negotiation costs?

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

I do not have all the details, but I think it is substantially the costs associated with the transactions that are taking place so that we can ultimately have this not-for-profit designated screening authority, but I will defer to my deputy minister once again, if he has a more precise description of the $2.8 million.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Before he does, I'd like to know—

[The Chair, Liberal, Vance Badawey]

Your time is up. I'll allow for a quick answer by the deputy minister.

[Todd Doherty, Conservative, Cariboo—Prince George, BC]

He didn't have a question.

[The Chair, Liberal, Vance Badawey]

I thought the minister was going to refer to the deputy minister.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Yes. You were going to have the deputy minister follow up if he had any further comment.

[Marc Garneau, Liberal, Notre-Dame-de-Grâce—Westmount, QC]

Yes, I'd go to the deputy minister or my financial officer, one of the two.

[Michael Keenan]

[Technical difficulty—Editor] to the department to assist us in negotiating with a private sector consortium to take over CATSA, as you had indicated.

[The Chair, Liberal, Vance Badawey]

Thank you, Mr. Baldinelli. Thank you, Minister.

Mr. Sidhu.