Transport Committee on June 11th, 2024

[Sébastien Benedict]

Yes, definitely. The Alliance de l'industrie touristique du Québec works closely with Destination Canada, a federal Crown corporation. We have a somewhat unique model in Quebec, compared to the rest of Canada. In Canada, the organizations that promote international tourism and the organizations that—

[Scot Davidson, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

I'm sorry. I don't mean to interrupt, but I have limited time.

I'm just saying that the federal government should be passionate about tourism. The Province of Quebec should be passionate about tourism. It's the passion.

[Sébastien Benedict]

Definitely, but I'm trying to understand the meaning of your question.

[Scot Davidson, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Yes, I know. I have passion for it.

Recently, the Liberal Minister of Health stood in the House of Commons and said that families taking their kids on a road trip this summer are letting “the planet burn”. Given the government considers road trips to be unacceptable activities for Canadians, are you concerned that the Liberals also consider trips or vacations taken by Canadians by air to be unacceptable as well? Are those comments by a minister of the Crown in the House of Commons concerning to you?

[Sébastien Benedict]

I hadn't heard those comments. We encourage both air and road transportation. These days, there are all kinds of ways to offset the carbon footprint of our trips, so that's not a problem. Of course, tourism industry actors, including businesses, are very much interested in sustainable development. There are definitely ways to explore our region in an eco-friendly way.

[Scot Davidson, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Comments came forward. I had a number of calls from my constituents that this was a negative promotion of tourism, a negative promotion when it comes to getting Canadians out this summer. This came after the Conservatives' plan to give Canadians a break this summer by having the government axe the fuel taxes this summer. That would save the average family $670 making them able to come to the province of Quebec. However, again we heard these comments from the health minister, saying that if you take a vacation you're actually letting “the planet burn”.

Those were concerning comments to me.

I'm glad you're here promoting tourism in Quebec, because I'm sure as heck going to promote tourism right across Canada, and I hope that people take advantage of air travel to get to their regional airports.

It's over to you, Mr. Kendall.

For those who can afford to do it, I hope we get lots of people up to the Arctic.

I know the federal government is now decommissioning, and correct me if I'm wrong, a number of NDBs across Canada. The Arctic is very unique. The great north is very unique. You've spoken about aircraft that's operating. We still use the Otter and the Beaver. Canadians were leaders in that technology. I think we've fallen behind in a lot of that. Going back to the 737-200, they are not able to operate on gravel strips. Once they're decommissioned, there are no replacements.

I'm wondering about the cost to airlines. Speaking about fleet, not everyone can afford to have a full G1000 panel and shoot GPS approaches.

On the government's pathway to decommissioning NDBs, doing a new VOR highway, do you think we're falling behind on lots of things by not getting GPS approaches approved fast enough? Can you comment on that?

[Robert Kendall]

I cannot comment on that because I don't know the situation.

[Scot Davidson, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Okay.

[Robert Kendall]

I've been out of aviation flying skills for too long.

[Scot Davidson, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Mr. Wright, do you have any comment on our falling behind on technology and about servicing older fleets—Mode C and 1900s—that are still flying around Canada that don't have the capabilities?

[Reg Wright]

I certainly would like to see the safe lifespan of certain older-model aircraft extended. Some of them are great workhorses in the regional market.

I don't feel like I am informed enough to understand where Canada sits vis-à-vis neighbouring countries in terms of adoption of technology.

[Scot Davidson, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Okay.

As far as the order it goes in, Mr. Kendall, has there been any closing of airports or flight service stations up there that you are aware of?

[Robert Kendall]

I am not aware of that. I don't believe that airports are closing. They require those air services for 12 months of the year, so they're not going to shut down.

[Scot Davidson, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

As far as the impact—

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Davidson.

[Scot Davidson, Conservative, York—Simcoe, ON]

Oh, it's all over.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

The red flag went up, sir. It's very sad.

Thank you, Mr. Kendall, and thank you, Mr. Davidson.

Next we have Mr. Badawey.

You have five minutes, sir.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

As Mr. Rogers mentioned earlier, I want to drill down on what this study is all about, which is northern, rural and remote airports. Of course we're trying to drill down on further measures for support. The “what” we're hearing today, but more so is the “how”. We're going to address a lot of that.

We heard from the mayor with respect to leveraging all methods of transportation, be it road, rail or water. We do recognize that we are embarking on an HFR-HSR project. With that, we're recognizing the capital investments that are needed within all methods of transportation.

With that are the operational realities to address the “how” to the “what”. That is the financing of the same and of course it includes the sustainable budget implications that sometimes must include capital debt financing. We recognize that and respect that. It all drives toward capacity, which is, quite frankly, part of the secondary planning of municipalities. It could be water and sewers or it could be roads, but in this case it's airports and methods of transportation.

I guess the second layer to that is going beyond the levels of service and the competition, etc., and really looking at the integration of the movement of goods and people—connectivity. Of course, with that are the strategic investments to meet the outcomes expected.

My first question for the mayor is twofold.

One aspect is the supply chain office and working with them. It's my intent to start a process that will establish a national supply chain and logistics strategy. When people hear “supply chain”, they automatically think of moving goods, but I want to add to that because it's also moving people. Of course, with that is trying to integrate those different methods of transportation to create that fluidity.

The second part of that would be market studies to de-risk operational and capital budgets.

Have there been market studies in your neck of the woods with respect to the need for the services? What specific services are needed with respect to the different levels of transportation?

[Herbert Pond]

I'm not particularly qualified to answer the supply chain piece.

To my knowledge, there has not been a significant market study for quite some time in this region. I think that would be very enlightening.

We've had some looks around the edges, but data-driven decision-making is always the best decision-making, so that kind of work would be welcome.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

This is for all the witnesses.

We're in a new era of transportation. We're sort of building from the old, which has been around, in rail's case, for a century. Of course, we're now trying to integrate water, road and air, which is newer than the rail. With that, we want to ensure operational excellence.

Mr. Mayor, you hit it right on the head with respect to data-driven decision-making and, of course, investments.

I'm going to go to Mr. Wright and ask him the same questions based on the east end of the country.

[Reg Wright]

To your point, yes, we do. You referenced market studies. That is really the spine of how you make a pitch to an airline for a new or enhanced air service. We do that recurrently with consultants and internally. We also quantify the number of people who live in our market but fly from a neighbouring market—as can happen in Prince Rupert, of course.

As for the integrity of the supply chain and multimodal, the island portion of Newfoundland and Labrador does not have a train, of course, but we're taking a deep look at that. There are some pretty substantial opportunities. When it comes to the flow of goods and cargo, you don't need to be in a major urban centre to play an active role. I'd be interested to see what will happen there in the next coming years.

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Wright.

Mr. Kendall, I'll go to you.

[Robert Kendall]

On the same questions?

[Vance Badawey, Liberal, Niagara Centre, ON]

Yes, but speak from your perspective in the north.

[Robert Kendall]

For the north side of it, again, air service is basically the Trans-Canada Highway for the north, for the Arctic. You have to have it. Everywhere in the Arctic relies on it. Goods and services are going 12 months of the year. The pandemic did not affect any of the operations at the airports. If anything, it increased them. You have medevac flights coming out of there all the time. It's good.

I want to make one comment, though, about pilot shortages. Everybody has mentioned that. You may have already heard this, I don't know, but it costs $140,000 to train a pilot today to their commercial level of 250 hours. You really need 500 hours just to get into the right-hand seat of a commercial aircraft. Children are not going forward and getting a pilot's licence like they did in the past. Unless there's some help with that aspect of it, you'll always have a pilot shortage.