Once again, I think this question should be directed more to my colleagues at Transport Canada, but I'll give a bit of an answer anyway.
We know that this crisis is unprecedented, but we don't know exactly what the consequences might have been in the situation you describe. Our role is simply to determine what the obligations of airlines are and what the rights of air passengers are under the law. These are the issues we are dealing with. I don't want to speculate by commenting on hypothetical situations.