Transport Committee on March 25th, 2021

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Minister, can you provide some reassurance to travel agents? I did hear concerns from a number in my riding on the collapse of the industry. Can you provide some reassurance that their commissions will be protected as part of the assistance package for the air sector?

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

Let me tell you what the important elements of the discussions with the airlines are right now. We're talking about passenger refunds, about the restoration of regional routes and about jobs, but we're also talking about protecting the commissions of those independent travel agents.

[Chris Bittle, Liberal, St. Catharines, ON]

Minister, would you like to comment on the decision by WestJet to resume operation in a number of cities in Atlantic Canada and Quebec?

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

I am cautiously optimistic about these decisions. It's really important that.... Look, we have to maintain vigilance when it comes to travel and when it comes to the number of infections. We are today being told by public health experts that we are probably at the beginning of a third wave, especially with the introduction of variants. It is really important that we continue to monitor the health measures.

I also know how important it is to maintain the connection of communities, all communities, with their neighbours and other regions of the country. I would say I'm cautiously optimistic. It's important to connect everyone. I look forward to hearing more decisions and more progress from the aviation sector and from airline companies.

[The Chair, Liberal, Vance Badawey]

Thank you, Minister Alghabra and Mr. Bittle.

We'll now move to Mr. Barsalou-Duval for two and a half minutes.

Mr. Barsalou-Duval, the floor is yours.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I'm not sure whether you are aware of the dire situation involving the Cap-aux-Meules wharf, on the Magdalen Islands. The wharf's capacity has been significantly reduced. About 80% of catches go through the wharf, so the entire season for Magdalen Island crabbers who set out from Cap-aux-Meules is at risk, all because of a Transport Canada decision.

According to the papers, your own Liberal member for Gaspésie—Les Îles-de-la-Madeleine said that Transport Canada had handled the matter poorly.

Can you tell me whether you have a solution in mind to make sure Magdalen Island fishers do not lose their entire season?

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

Let me assure my colleague and all people who live on the Magdalen Islands of how aware I am of this important and urgent situation. From day one my colleague Minister Lebouthillier has expressed her concerns about the situation. She helped arrange for a phone call with the mayor of the island. She arranged phone calls with other stakeholders on the island.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Minister, I don't want to know what the member has done. I want to know what you are going to do to fix the problem.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

Just so that my colleague and others know, we received a report that told us that the integrity of the wharf has deteriorated and the safety is at risk. We have to act. Having said that, we are working currently as the Ministry of Transport with the Ministry of Fisheries and Oceans and with local stakeholders to make sure that we have minimal impact on fishers and on local residents and to do our best to protect for safety but also make sure that people are affected as little as possible.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

If I understand correctly, then, you don't have a solution yet, but you are looking into the problem. We hope you come up with one very soon; the situation is dire, after all.

Shortly after you gave the Air Transat deal the go-ahead, it turned out that Air Canada might not be so keen to go through with the deal. Do you think you may have made the wrong decision since the company you approved to buy Air Transat might walk away? Nevertheless, you had been told that it was not a good idea.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, when I made the decision for the merger between Air Canada and Air Transat, I first had to make a decision on the file that was before me, on the acquisition that was before me. I made a decision based on all the information available to me and in the best interests of Quebeckers and Canadians.

I cannot tell what the future is going to hold, but I feel confident that we as a government made the best decision for Air Transat, for Air Transat workers and for passengers in Quebec and across the country.

[The Chair, Liberal, Vance Badawey]

Thank you, Minister Alghabra, and thank you, Mr. Barsalou-Duval.

We're now going to move over to Mr. Bachrach for two and a half minutes.

Mr. Bachrach, the floor is yours.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, on the topic of support for airlines, we've heard from several of Canada's smaller regional airlines about the challenges they're facing, which in many ways are different from the challenges faced by the big airlines. Understanding that the negotiations are ongoing and that there are aspects of those you can't share with us, I wonder if you could share with us in broad terms the kinds of solutions you're considering in order to support these smaller regional carriers.

In particular, we've heard from carriers such as Air North about the importance of regulatory steps such as interline agreements with the larger air carriers. Could you tell us if that's something that's being considered?

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, regional airlines are incredibly important, because they connect remote communities. In some situations that's the only connection they have to the rest of the country. That's why our government has already provided support to regional and remote airlines and northern airlines, including Air North. We very much believe in the role that these regional small airlines play when they carry passengers to remote and northern areas.

We are certainly also talking about support for airports, and not just talking, we've committed to support for airports. I know that will also help small airlines.

Mr. Chair, I just want to assure you and my colleague that we're very much on top of this. We're working with small airlines to continue to offer support in the way it's needed to make sure that Canadians who live in these remote areas have the service they need.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

I'm just wondering.... I didn't hear any mention in there about regulatory approaches.

Specifically, what we've heard about from Air North is the need for these interline agreements with the larger carriers, and the need for the government to step in and ensure residents of Canada's north and in remote communities have access to a competitive market and these smaller airlines are able to survive in the recovery from the pandemic.

Could you speak specifically to interline agreements? Is this something that you're aware of or understand?

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, I want to thank my colleague for also recognizing in his first question that I'm not able to speak about the ongoing discussions that are taking place with the major airlines and some of the details that are taking place. Having said that, I agree with him. We need to find a way to accelerate and enhance competition, particularly in remote and regional areas of our country.

Our government from day one has been working on supporting entrepreneurs in the aviation sector on finding regulatory ways to enhance competition, so yes, I am open to ideas to continue to enhance competition in the aviation sector, and I'm happy to.... By the way, I'm also in discussions with many stakeholders, including smaller airlines, on how we can do so. I invite my colleague to make submissions to my office about his ideas on how we can do so.

[The Chair, Liberal, Vance Badawey]

Thank you, Mr. Bachrach.

Thank you, Minister Alghabra.

We are at 4:30. Minister Alghabra, I understand that you have to move on to your next appointment. On behalf of the committee, I do want to express our sincere appreciation to you for coming today. I think we had a great discussion, with a lot of questions asked and a lot of questions answered, plus more. Minister, I do appreciate your attendance here today.

Members, we're now going to move to our second hour.

Mr. Clerk, do we need some sound checks done or is everybody all taken care of? Everybody's all taken care of. I see the thumbs-up.

Okay. We're going to move into our second hour now.

We have with us, as was mentioned before, from the Department of Transport, Michael Keenan, deputy minister; Craig Hutton, director general, strategic policy; Anuradha Marisetti, assistant deputy minister, programs; Kevin Brosseau, assistant deputy minister, safety and security; Ryan Pilgrim, chief financial officer and assistant deputy minister, corporate services; and finally, Michael DeJong, director general, rail safety.

We do have our list in the second round, as presented to me by the clerk. We're going to start off with Mr. Michael Kram.

Michael, you have six minutes. The floor is yours.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you to the witnesses for joining us today.

On January 26, Transport Canada issued an advisory circular regarding the designation of international airports in Canada. It came as a surprise to some that the airports in Regina and Saskatoon had lost their international designation. I was wondering if the witnesses could speak to how they came to the decision that the Regina and Saskatoon airports were to lose their international designation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Vance Badawey]

Mr. Keenan, are you going to start us off?

[Michael Keenan, Deputy Minister, Department of Transport]

Sure. I'd be happy to, Mr. Chair.

Thank you for the question from the member. It's a good question.

The purpose of the circular was to update information on international airport designations. I would say we recognize that we caught a few people by surprise, and we're continuing to consult on that. In fact, we're seeking information from any airport or aerodrome regarding its activities aligning to this definition under IATA. We anticipate advancing those consultations and issuing a more comprehensive list of airports. It was simply a reflection of the fact that we didn't have all of the information, so we're continuing to consult on that.

I believe officials from the department have reached out to partners in the airport sector to highlight the fact that we would welcome information from them to build a more complete and updated list.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Is it typical to change these designations without a consultation process beforehand?

[Michael Keenan]

Quite frankly, no. I think in this case we thought we had all the information in from the airports, but we didn't. We are basically going out to them and working through the process of consulting to build a more comprehensive list. In part, the process of developing the list ended up being misconstrued as the list itself, and for that I think we just take responsibility. We were unclear in our communications and unclear in our process.

We strive to work very closely with our partners in the air sector, and occasionally we don't quite get it right in our consultation process.

[Michael Kram, Conservative, Regina—Wascana, SK]

Moving forward, can you elaborate on the process that airports will have to follow for reapplying for this designation?

[Michael Keenan]

I'm going to turn it over to the assistant deputy minister of safety and security, Kevin Brosseau, to talk a little bit more about the process on that.

[Kevin Brosseau, Assistant Deputy Minister, Safety and Security, Department of Transport]

Mr. Chair, there is a process, and in fact what an airport would have to do is submit documentation to Transport Canada hitting on the elements identified in the International Civil Aviation Organization convention. Those requirements will be, and in fact already have been, communicated to the implicated airports. As I understand it, the process to submit that documentation has already begun, which identifies the requirements for such things as customs services and policing services. Those are but two examples. There is a long litany, but that process has already begun.