Transport Committee on June 13th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 122 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, the committee is resuming its study of the Competition Act and air travel in northern, rural and remote communities.

On avoiding audio feedback, before we begin, I'd like to remind all members and all other meeting participants in the room of the following important preventative measures.

To prevent disruptive and potentially harmful audio feedback incidents that can cause injuries, all in-person participants are reminded to keep their earpieces away from microphones at all times.

As indicated in the communiqué from the Speaker to all members on Monday, April 29, the following measures have been taken to help prevent audio feedback incidents: All earpieces have been replaced by a model that greatly reduces the probability of audio feedback. The new earpieces are black in colour, whereas the former earpieces were grey. Please use only the black approved earpiece. By default, all unused earpieces will be unplugged at the start of the meeting. When you're not using your earpiece, please place it face down on the middle of the sticker for this purpose that you will find on the table, as indicated. Please consult the cards on the table for guidelines to prevent audio feedback incidents.

Also, the room layout has been adjusted to increase the distance between microphones and reduce the chance of feedback from an ambient earpiece.

Of course, these measures are in place so that we can conduct our business without interruption and to protect the health and safety of all participants, including our interpreters.

Thank you all for your co-operation.

I'd now like to welcome our witnesses.

Colleagues, appearing before us from 11 to noon, we have, from the Department of Transport, Serge Bijimine, assistant deputy minister, policy; Jennifer Little, director general, air policy; Andy Cook, associate director general, civil aviation; and Vincent Millette, director, national air services policy.

Welcome to you all.

I will turn the floor over to you for your opening remarks.

You have five minutes, please.

[Serge Bijimine, Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy, Department of Transport]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

To start, it's my birthday today, and I thought what better way to celebrate it than to come to TRAN.

[Voices]

Happy birthday.

[Serge Bijimine]

It might be a first in history.

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

Mr. Chair, it's my birthday too.

[Serge Bijimine]

Oh, happy birthday.

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

There's always common ground, right?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

We've lost control. That sets a record. We've lost control, and we're only two minutes in.

[Serge Bijimine]

Yes, two minutes. I'll grab a sandwich on my way out, too.

Good morning, everyone.

Thank you, Mr. Chair, for inviting me to speak today. It is my pleasure to join you and the honourable members of this committee.

I would like to begin by acknowledging that the land on which we gather today here in Ottawa is the traditional unceded territory of the Algonquin Anishinabe peoples.

My name is Serge Bijimine. I am the assistant deputy minister of policy at Transport Canada. I am pleased to be joined today by Jennifer Little, the director general of air policy, Vincent Millette, director of national air services policy, and Andy Cook, associate director general in safety and security at Transport Canada.

The issue of regional connectivity in Canada's air sector and its impact on rural, remote and northern communities is a very complex one with no easy solution.

We welcome the committee's initiative to undertake a study at this time. It is timely, it is needed and it will allow all of us to hear various views from different stakeholders as we continue to tackle this complex problem.

As we all know, the Canadian air sector is an enabler of economic activity and is vital to connecting people, businesses and communities across Canada from coast to coast to coast.

As we also know, Canada is a unique country when it comes to air travel. At almost 10 million square kilometres, we're the second-largest country in the world.

Compared with the United States and Europe, our population density is quite low, at just over four persons per square kilometre. The EU is at 106 persons per square kilometre, and the U.S. is at 34 persons per square kilometre.

In addition, the vast distances between smaller and remote communities in Canada can hamper regional connectivity as air carriers cannot always make these routes profitable. This is in contrast to communities in the U.S. and the EU, where many people live near a major population centre, distances between major cities are closer and demand is higher.

Canada's north offers even more challenges for air travel and connectivity. Less than one per cent of Canada's population lives above the 60th parallel, but this territory comprises 40% of Canada's land mass.

In most cases, there is not enough demand for travel to allow carriers to fill the number of seats needed to remain economically viable. This issue is of particular concern in communities which rely predominantly on air transportation. In addition, the pandemic eroded regional air services, and communities saw reductions in the level of air service.

Nevertheless, as a result of these challenges, the government stepped in during the pandemic to help address regional connectivity. This included more than $140 million for the remote air services program and more than $200 million for the regional air transportation initiative. The government also put in place terms and conditions for the Canadian North merger with First Air to ensure both airlines could survive and continue to serve northern communities. Quite simply, these efforts kept the industry afloat and attempted to maintain connectivity.

Further, the government continues to make investments in northern aviation through the airports capital assistance program, otherwise known as ACAP, and the national trade corridors fund, or NTCF. To date, the government has invested over a billion dollars towards over 1,000 projects at 201 regional airports and additional projects at northern airports.

While we are seeing more air connectivity than we did during the pandemic, important challenges remain. They just do. For instance, while Canada's top four airports and many of our mid-sized airports have recovered to near prepandemic levels, many smaller communities have not seen a rebound in demand. A lot of these communities are still at 30% or 50% of prepandemic levels. This is due to a number of factors, including a shortage of pilots, aircraft mechanics and other skilled labour.

To sum it up, connectivity, like competition, is a complex issue that is challenging and will require more effort—from government to industry and everyone in between—as we continue to move the needle in the right direction.

As the sector continues to evolve and emerge from one of its most consequential periods, continuing to explore various measures to increase connectivity will be key.

In conclusion, I would add that this committee's study comes at an opportune time, as Canada's air industry continues to recover, adjust and evolve.

That concludes my opening remarks. We are happy to answer any questions you may have.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much.

Colleagues, much to your joy, I have the yellow card and the red card once again in my possession to ensure equity. I will be raising the yellow card when you have 15 seconds left. The red card means your time is up. I ask that all of you do your best to look at me as much as possible while you're asking questions or responding to the questions.

It is now a pleasure for me to turn the floor over to Mr. Davidson.

Mr. Davidson, the floor is yours. You have six minutes for your questions, sir.

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

Good morning.

I want to thank Transport Canada officials for appearing here on the study of regional airports.

We know that there are significant issues that have led to small and regional airports like Buttonville closing. Instead of getting new airports built to fill that void, we are seeing very concerning negligence on the part of Transport Canada and the Minister of Transport.

The proponents of the Baldwin East Aerodrome have received approval from Transport Canada to dump thousands of tonnes of fill on protected wetlands under the guise of constructing an aerodrome, even though they have been charged with provincial offences relating to the dumping of contaminated fill. These proponents are currently subject to hearings under the Ontario Environmental Protection Act.

In a recent quote from the proceedings, “The modus operandi of Wilfred Goldlust appears to be to accept contaminated soil while suggesting to the generator that the waste will be disposed in an approved landfill then misrepresenting the waste as clean fill and depositing it on properties not approved to receive waste. Wilfred Goldlust frequently changes the names and/or locations of his companies and most recently appears to be using numbered companies as a front. While enforcement action is taken against his company, Wilfred Goldlust is uncooperative and prefers to fight the enforcement actions rather than addressing the matter.”

One of these companies is supposedly building an aerodrome in Georgina. I represent the great riding of York-Simcoe—the soup and salad bowl of Canada—where they clearly plan to dump fill and leave the land to ruin once they've made their money from tipping fees. Transport Canada is well aware of this. The Minister of Transport is well aware of it, and may I say, this is the second minister of transport whom I've dealt with on this issue.

He has been informed on numerous occasions—by the Government of Ontario, the municipalities, the FCM and the Chippewas of Georgina Island—about their limitations of enforcing their laws and bylaws with regard to federally regulated aerodromes. I'll say that again: These are federally regulated aerodromes.

My question today to transport officials is this: Why has this project not been stopped, since it is clearly not in the public interest in my community?

[Serge Bijimine]

My group, the policy group, is not familiar with that project. What I could commit to doing is going back within the department, getting more information on the project and what Transport Canada has been doing with respect to the project, and submitting a written answer to the committee here, if that's okay.

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

I thank you for that.

I want the committee to understand this, as do, I think, other members of Parliament here. We're sent here to fight for our residents, and right now this is the government—the Minister of Transport—doing business badly for Canadians.

This has been an ongoing issue over three years. I have numerous articles here. In Durham, with regard to the Greenbank airport, that lawsuit exceeded.... The cleanup exceeded $105 million for the Greenbank airport. This is an issue that has gone on in Tottenham and in Burlington. There are serious environmental concerns that Transport Canada is ignoring—flat out ignoring.

The frustrating part for me is that we've asked for the minister to appear, Mr. Chair, at this committee. Mr. Chair, can I clarify that there's been no answer from the minister?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

We clarified at the previous meeting, I believe, that we have not received a response back with regard to his availability and confirmation of his attendance.

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

You are the Transport Canada officials whom I can communicate directly with to again stress how concerning it is for me that we can't have the minister before the committee to answer for this.

Do you understand my frustration as an MP not being able to get answers and a decision made?

[Serge Bijimine]

We commit to bringing this back to the department and to briefing our minister as well.

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

I just want everyone here to understand that this is a regional airport study. I'm here today and I was hoping that Transport Canada officials could answer and have some sort of guidance for my residents on this issue. It was written after what happened in Greenbank, and the minister has used his power three times in the past to not allow construction of an airport, given that it is not in the public interest.

Mr. Chair, I see that I am out of time. I will pick this up on the next round.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Davidson.

Next we have Mr. Fillmore.

The floor is yours. You have six minutes, sir.

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

Thank you, Chair, and thank you to our officials from Transport Canada. Thank you for your service to Canadians and the industries that support them.

I represent a harbour city, Halifax, where the national trade corridor fund has been deployed to great effect. I thank you for your involvement, if there is any, on that.

I want to turn the lens to the airline industry, particularly connecting to northern and remote communities, and how the national trade corridor fund has been applied there.

I wonder if you could just talk about which projects are under way and if there are future projects coming up through the NTCF.

[Serge Bijimine]

Certainly.

I'll pass it on to my colleague, Vincent Millette.

[Vincent Millette, Director, National Air Services Policy, Department of Transport]

I don't have the full list with me. That's something we can commit to providing.

I can give a few examples of projects that were funded through the NTCF that were helpful with the connectivity in the north. They include the building of a warehouse facility in Iqaluit and the building of a warehouse facility in Ottawa to facilitate the shipment of goods in the north. There has also been the refurbishment of several runways in the north.

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

Okay. I'll just give a pause to make sure no one else wants to add anything. Otherwise, I'll carry on.

[Serge Bijimine]

I can add a few more details, if that's okay.

In addition to what Vincent has said, I have some specific numbers, not specific projects.

Under the NTCF for airports, around $400 million has been set aside. Also under the NTCF, 96 projects have been set aside for the north, which are valued at $166 million.

[Andy Fillmore, Liberal, Halifax, NS]

Thank you.

If you're able to provide the committee with a fuller list of what your colleague referred to, that would be helpful data for the analysts.

Turning away from NTCF, what other strategies are being considered by Transport Canada to improve the affordability and connectivity for residents in the north?

[Serge Bijimine]

We are looking at a wide range of measures. I think this committee is definitely key to looking at everything that could be around the table.

We're studying the U.S. model and also seeing what measures the U.S. has put in place that might be successful and might apply to Canada, or not.

We're looking at the same thing in the EU and we're looking at Australia. We're really taking a global approach on what some of the measures and initiatives are from around the world that could help Canada achieve better connectivity. We're definitely looking at that.

We're also quite interested in the Quebec program and what they've been doing in Quebec when it comes to connectivity. All the cards are on the table.

As I said, it's a complex issue, but we're exploring every avenue and figuring out what works and if it would work in Canada with affordability and cost benefit. All cards are on the table. We're really looking at this seriously and leaving no stone unturned.