I think it's a bit of both. It depends on the jurisdiction. The U.S. law is clearer. Leaving aside what the Canadian law actually says, there's no doubt the American law, on this point, is crystal clear in terms of some refunds, at least, that were processed.
In the European Union many governments got off the mark a lot faster in negotiating with their primary carriers. In the German example, for instance, the government made a deal with Lufthansa many months ago. They said the same thing that our Canadian government is saying now, which is, “As a result of our help for you, Lufthansa, to continue flying in the future, you must make your customers whole.” The thing is, they got on with that months ago.
It is a very good question why it has taken our government until November to make the same kind of statement. There are other jurisdictions that got onto this months ago.