Evidence of meeting #130 for Transport, Infrastructure and Communities in the 44th Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was communities.
A video is available from Parliament.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
Okay.
Mr. Cane, how would you describe the relationship and conversations between you and the people at Transport Canada?
Senior Vice-President, Operations, Summit Air Ltd.
I'm not sure if I was supposed to be having any translation, but I didn't hear anything.
Chief Executive Officer, Exchange Income Corporation, Perimeter Aviation
I don't get any either.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Thank you to our witnesses for letting us know.
We'll ask Mr. Barsalou-Duval to start again with his preamble, please. We'll bring your time back down to zero.
We'll let you start again, Mr. Barsalou-Duval.
You have the floor for six minutes.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the witnesses for being with us today.
My first questions are for Myles Cane, from Summit Air.
Essentially, I was saying that your comments during your opening remarks echoed what a number of other airlines have told us. They feel, especially the small ones in remote and northern regions, that decisions made in Ottawa are not based on their lived experience or reality and are being unilaterally imposed on them.
How would you characterize your relationship with Transport Canada officials? Are compromises sometimes made?
How does that actually happen on a day-to-day basis?
Senior Vice-President, Operations, Summit Air Ltd.
Again, was I supposed to receive a translation of the question?
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
Is there still no interpretation?
Senior Vice-President, Operations, Summit Air Ltd.
Does someone want to just translate the question?
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Mr. Cane, I believe what's happening is that you haven't selected translation. There's a button to press that would automatically provide you with the live translation feed that we have.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Perhaps I will ask the clerk to guide you through that, or perhaps the director of audio and video services here can help out.
Chief Executive Officer, Exchange Income Corporation, Perimeter Aviation
Could you say that again? I can't find that on mine.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Colleagues, if it's okay for everybody, we'll suspend for two minutes to make sure we've got all of this sorted out. We'll resume in two minutes.
This meeting is suspended.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
I call this meeting back to order.
Mr. Barsalou‑Duval, you have the floor once again.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Hopefully, this time is the charm.
Thank you to the witnesses for being here.
I was telling Mr. Cane that his comments during his opening remarks were very similar to those of other witnesses who testified before the committee about the situation of regional airlines. It seems that decisions made in Ottawa by Transport Canada officials do not take into account the reality of regional airlines and that these decisions are unilaterally imposed.
How does that actually happen on a day-to-day basis? Tell us about your conversations with Transport Canada.
Senior Vice-President, Operations, Summit Air Ltd.
Yes, that's precisely the concern.
In my operational role, I've had a relationship with my region, because Transport Canada is made of a bunch of regions, and whichever region you operate in as an airline is the region you deal with on an operational level. When it comes to policy, of course, it's Ottawa.
I haven't had too much experience with Ottawa in my role at Summit, but in my role at NATA I've had a significant amount of experience over the years. There's been a marked shift in the relationship and the behaviour of the regulator in the past five to seven years, I would say, in that it seems like there's a dogged determination to implement new regulations and almost ignore the impact of that on northern constituents. That's a bold statement, I realize, but I do feel strongly that that's the case.
It seems like the process of meeting with the operators and the subject matter experts is now a box-checking exercise rather than one that is designed to pursue meaningful input that will drive sensible regulatory change. We know that regulatory change is a requisite. We know that. Every industry has to change and modernize and get safer, but it shouldn't do that while leaving residents of Canada behind fiscally and from a health and safety perspective.
I have a great relationship with Transport Canada. Operationally, I do. I feel like on the regulatory Ottawa side, with my NATA role, it's a little more strained. I feel like there's this dogged sense to just carry on with implementing these new regulatory changes regardless of the impact on northerners.
Bloc
Xavier Barsalou-Duval Bloc Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC
Are there discussion forums between airlines and officials?
Are you in discussions with officials? Are compromises sometimes made, or are decisions simply imposed on you?
Senior Vice-President, Operations, Summit Air Ltd.
It's something that was imposed. We were consulted with as far as the process is concerned, but the vast majority of solutions we proposed as alternate means were turned down.
You know, a lot of these have had dramatic impacts on northerners. The one I'm most particularly concerned about is the new approach ban regulations coming down, which are going to have a significant impact on operational capability in the north for all air carriers.
Liberal
The Chair Liberal Peter Schiefke
Thank you very much, Mr. Barsalou‑Duval.
Next we have Mr. Bachrach.
Mr. Bachrach, the floor is yours for six minutes, sir.
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to our witnesses for making time for us, and I apologize on behalf of the committee for the technical challenges.
I'll direct my questions to Mr. McCrea.
Mr. McCrea, it's great to have you before the transport committee as a fellow Smithereen and someone whose company has provided—
NDP
Taylor Bachrach NDP Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC
I know. “Smithereen” is our collective pronoun. We're very proud of it.
You're someone who has provided, through your company, some great service for northern British Columbians. I know you've provided both scheduled services and charter services, and I wonder if you could talk a bit about your experience in trying to compete with larger carriers in smaller markets.
As a small airline company, what have been some of the barriers that you've faced? What have been some of the challenges in trying to offer northern residents competitive airfares and the kind of service that you want to provide?
President, Central Mountain Air
Thank you.
We're continuously looking for opportunities where service is limited or the frequency of service is just not there. We feel the community can handle it. We've made attempts, on occasion, to operate some scheduled service to certain communities, one being Smithers. Sometimes, business-wise, our competitors don't like to see us playing in their sandbox.
At the end of the day, certainly, I would say that large air carrier brands and dominance come into play. They put the pressure on by changing fares or frequency. We don't have those pockets.