Transport Committee on Aug. 19th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting No. 27 of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Monday, August 8, 2022, the committee is meeting on the subject of Airport Delays and Cancellations. Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House Order of Thursday, June 23, 2022.

For members in the room, if you wish to speak, please raise your hand. For members on Zoom, please use the raise hand function. The clerk and I will manage the speaking order as best we can, and we appreciate your patience and understanding in this regard.

Members, today appearing before committee we have the Honourable Omar Alghabra, Minister of Transport, for the first half of our meeting.

For the second half of the meeting, we have, from the Department of Transport, Michael Keenan, deputy minister; Aaron McCrorie, associate assistant deputy minister, safety and security; Colin Stacey, director general, air policy; and Nicholas Robinson, director general, civil aviation.

From the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, we have Mike Saunders, president and chief executive officer; Nancy Fitchett, vice-president of corporate affairs and chief financial officer; and Neil Parry, vice-president, operations.

From the Canada Border Services Agency, we have Denis Vinette, vice-president, travellers branch.

From the Public Health Agency of Canada, we have Jennifer Lutfallah, vice-president, health security and regional operations branch.

We will now begin with the opening remarks from Minister Alghabra for five minutes.

Minister, thank you for joining us today. I turn the floor over to you.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Minister of Transport]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Hello, everyone.

I am grateful that I was invited to come back to speak with you today on this important issue.

So thank you for inviting me to appear before you.

I am joining you virtually today from the traditional territory of the Mississaugas of the Credit First Nation.

I am pleased to be with representatives from Transport Canada, with whom you're familiar: Michael Keenan, deputy minister of transport; Colin Stacey, director general, air policy; Aaron McCrorie, associate assistant deputy minister, safety and security; and Nicholas Robinson, director general of civil aviation.

I want to start by saying that the delays we've been seeing at airports are frustratingly unacceptable.

It's also unacceptable to see travellers sleeping on airport floors because a flight was delayed or cancelled.

Today I want to give you an update on the progress made, but also acknowledge that there's still work to be done and share what we are doing to address this.

To begin, after a difficult two years for the aviation sector, where they lost almost 90% of their business and faced significant layoffs, we saw a massive surge in demand for air travel of 252%. This is the increase in daily passenger volumes between January and August 2022 in Canada. In comparison, in the U.S. the volume per day increased by 64%.

I want to be clear. That's not an excuse. It's a fact. The aviation sector is a highly integrated sector. Transport Canada has control over certain aspects of it, but it does not manage the operations of most of its components.

Having said that, from day one we decided to focus on action rather than blame. Canadians rightly expect their government to do everything it can to address congestion causes and work with partners to implement solutions.

We have taken action since the start and will continue.

For example, we've hired more than 1,700 CATSA officers since May. The result is that 87% of passengers departing from the four largest airports were screened by CATSA within 15 minutes over the second week of August, and that is up from 63% over the first week of May. There's still more to be done, and we continue to hire CATSA officers every day.

Over the past few months, we've also addressed several potential operational bottlenecks, including public health measures like mandatory random testing, which is now being done outside of airports. As we know, airport operations are extremely interconnected, and coordination between partners is essential.

To highlight a few, Transport Canada sets airport and airline safety standards. Airlines are responsible for transporting their customers, for dealing with flight plans and for passenger baggage. Airports manage the flow of planes and passengers on their premises. CATSA is responsible for security screening, while CBSA is responsible for welcoming and processing international arrivals. Each of our partners has an important role to play in Canada's air sector, and if there are issues in one area, that affects other areas.

Over the last few months, I've personally met with airlines and airports across the country, as well as other partners in the industry. I've travelled and visited 13 airports, big and small, to see the situation first-hand. I'm happy to see encouraging results, such as only 2% of flights planned for Canada's top four airports over the second week of August being cancelled—which is, by the way, closer to the traditional average. This is a drop from 5% over the first week of July.

I also want to touch on another important subject: Passengers have rights.

Our government was the first government in Canadian history to recognize that and do something about it, in 2017. Our government worked with the Canadian Transportation Agency, or CTA, which is an independent quasi-judicial tribunal and regulator of Canada's national transportation system, to create the air passenger protection regulations a few years ago. Airlines must respect travellers' rights and compensate travellers who are eligible. The CTA, like any other tribunal, is responsible for receiving and analyzing complaints from travellers who believe they are entitled to compensation in instances where airlines have not provided it. Our government has recently given the CTA an additional $11 million to help them process the backlog. We're going to make sure that the CTA has the resources they need to fulfill their mandate under the air passenger protection regulations.

In closing, I want Canadians to know that their government has been actively working at addressing airport congestion caused by the surge in air travel demand. We are seeing encouraging results, but there's still more work to be done.

There are those who have a vested interest in embellishing reality and undermining confidence in our airline sector only to score political points. Our government, on the other hand, is focusing on tackling the real issues, working with partners and taking real action. Our plan is to do everything possible to reduce delays. That's what we did, and that's what we will continue to do.

We will continue to do everything possible to fix the situation.

We know that we all need to work together to resolve the situation, and I invite members of this committee to also present solutions.

Mr. Chair, that concludes my opening remarks, and I'm looking forward to answering the questions of my colleagues.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Minister.

To begin the rounds of questioning today, we will go with Melissa Lantsman.

Ms. Lantsman, the floor is yours. You have six minutes.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Minister, I'm glad to see your symptoms are mild.

I do appreciate the minister making time, but it is disappointing that he couldn't find two hours in the summer to appear in front of the transport committee, whereas his own party was part of a unanimous agreement for a two-hour appearance today.

More and more Canadians have seen for themselves that the problems experienced here in Canada are different and substantially worse than anywhere else in the world. We know that Pearson and Montreal have been ranked number one and number two of the worst airports in the world. That is an international embarrassment.

Among these delays and flight disruptions, there's a lot of finger pointing—airlines, airports and passengers themselves, as the minister alluded to in May—and we know that a lack of capacity, security agents, customs agents, navigation services and pandemic restrictions have all contributed to this chaos.

Does the minister believe that the government bears any responsibility in any way for what has transpired this summer, yes or no?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

I'm sorry, Minister. I believe you're on mute. Could you unmute, please?

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

That is a fair point. I blame it on COVID.

Mr. Chair, speaking of COVID, Canadians know that over the last two years they've witnessed significant disruptions to our economy. As we are restarting our economy, they're seeing an imbalance in our economy. They're witnessing supply chain disruptions. They're witnessing private sector inability to provide services and products that customers are looking for. They're witnessing similar delays and phenomena across the world. I know that this is a time of uncertainty, and I know that, rightly so, Canadians expect their government to focus on mitigating these factors and doing everything it can to resolve this.

I want Canadians to see that from the beginning their government was focused on taking action to do everything we could to help Canadians. I hope that months from now Canadians will look back and see that their government was taking real action and doing everything we could to address the root causes of the issue. We are witnessing similar phenomena around the world—

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Minister, I'm just going to jump in here.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

I am committed to doing everything we can to address these issues.

Thanks, Mr. Chair.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Thanks. I have a limited amount of time, and I hear that the answer is “no”.

Mr. Chair, this week alone, families returning from long-awaited vacations on a number of flights into the minister's home airport of Toronto, which is also mine, waited almost four hours for their bags. Does the minister think this is acceptable? How long should they have to wait? Is it 20 minutes? Is it two hours? Is it three hours? There is no standard. That's the point.

Would he agree that the federal government should enact a service standard for those elements of air travel under its jurisdiction so that we can meaningfully improve travel, which he doesn't think the government has any responsibility in, according to his last answer?

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, let me just say that for decades, previous governments didn't do anything about passenger rights. It was our government that was the first government in Canadian history to put together regulations that protect passenger rights. I think this moment in history has exacerbated and exposed other areas that we can certainly work on together to improve.

I want to thank Ms. Lantsman, because this is constructive feedback. There will be a time when we're going to look back and look at what else we can do to strengthen our system and to make sure it's better. Baggage handling is the responsibility of the airlines. Having said that, can we do something to ensure that we have a higher standard? I think that's a good point to raise and a good question to ask. I look forward to working with members of the committee to improve our aviation sector.

[Melissa Lantsman, Conservative, Thornhill, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Chair, I think Canadians at home are rightfully frustrated.

I'm going to move on to something else, since we're not getting any kind of answer.

The mandatory use of the ArriveCAN app has been criticized by frontline border agents themselves. Those are folks who are part of the union, folks who work in the government. Mayors, tourism councils, chambers of commerce, our U.S. border partners.... Actually, it would be easier just to list those who support it. That's only the government, sir.

It is adding delays. It is quadrupling the time at customs. We know that. That's on record. People are being wrongfully put under house arrest because of a glitch. It functionally does not keep up with the political health restrictions. It has been cited as having privacy issues. The one-time secret exemption uncovered last week proves that it's not even about viral spread.

In the face of the overwhelming evidence of its problems and the criticism, why is the government not abandoning the mandatory use of ArriveCAN? Why are you instead making it permanent?

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

Mr. Chair, Ms. Lantsman in January claimed that the vaccine mandate at our borders would lead to food shortages and empty shelves at our grocery stores. She was wrong. In May, she claimed that the transportation vaccine mandate was causing the congestion, and if we stopped it, it would solve the congestion problem. Once again she was wrong. So I can tell you...please forgive me if I'm skeptical about her assessment.

ArriveCAN is not contributing to the congestion. In fact, ArriveCAN is a useful tool that helps verify the vaccination status of an individual before they arrive at our borders. If we didn't have ArriveCAN, the processing of arrivals would take a longer time, because it would have to be done manually.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

You have 10 more seconds, Minister, please.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

ArriveCAN is actually helping to process arrivals much faster and helping to reduce congestions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Minister, and thank you, Ms. Lantsman.

Next we have Ms. Koutrakis.

Ms. Koutrakis, the floor is yours. You have six minutes.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, Minister, for agreeing to appear before the transport committee today. It's nice to see that your symptoms of COVID are very mild and that you're able to give us one hour from your busy schedule.

Earlier, we heard from Ms. Lantsman the criticism that you're appearing here for one hour instead of two. I just want to remind everyone who is watching us and listening that the standard for ministerial appearances at the transport committee is in fact an hour. During the entire Harper government, which was almost 10 years, none of his various transport ministers appeared for longer than an hour at transport committee meetings.

Minister Alghabra also answered questions about airports when he last appeared at TRAN, on May 30. The officials appeared on this topic at TRAN on June 16. Unfortunately, we never got a chance to ask our questions of the relevant officials because the opposition members of this committee preferred to deal with unrelated motions.

Last but not less important, a briefing was provided by officials on July 21 to members of both the transport committee and the TRCM, at the Senate.

Minister, one of the main responsibilities of Transport Canada is security screening through CATSA. What concrete steps have you taken to improve CATSA screening times and what are the results we've seen so far?

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

Thank you very much, Ms. Koutrakis, for your question.

As I've stated before, I'm always happy to come back and once again answer questions of committee members, as I have done in the past, if needed.

From the beginning, when we started seeing the surge in demand, we worked with CATSA. I know Mike Saunders is here today, and I'm sure he'll be happy to answer your questions, as will his team. I sat down with Mike in late April and we talked about the sense of urgency that is required to respond to the surge in demand we're seeing. To CATSA's credit, they put all hands on deck and worked with their partners on ensuring they intensified and accelerated their hiring.

Let me take a step back. Since the winter, we have worked with CATSA on providing them additional resources in preparation for the restart of the aviation sector. In fact, it was in the estimates prior to congestion, and CATSA was receiving additional funding to help them prepare for that.

To summarize, just in the last three months, CATSA has hired 1,700 people. This is in an environment of labour shortage. There's more work that needs to be done, and I'm not claiming that all the problems have been solved, but it's great to see a significant improvement in processing times. As I stated in my opening remarks, today, at the four largest airports, 87% of passengers are screened within 15 minutes or less.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

We are seeing similar flight delays and cancellations occurring all over the world. Is it reasonable to say that these all have knock-on effects in other countries? If so, what efforts, if any, are being made at the international level to better coordinate schedules to manage these effects?

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

Indeed, Ms. Koutrakis, we are seeing similar phenomena at many major airports around the world, from Heathrow to Amsterdam to many U.S. airports to Dublin, and the list goes on. This is an international phenomenon.

Again, at the heart of it is the surge in demand after the industry faced two years of significant reductions and layoffs. There is an imbalance between the desire of travellers to travel and the ability and labour available to provide those services. Undoubtedly, there needs to be better coordination among international partners to do everything they can, but as you said, there are knock-on effects across the world. This is a highly integrated sector with a just-in-time delivery service model, and any kind of impact will have ramifications across the world.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

I also want to dispel the comments of my colleague MP Lantsman, who referred to ArriveCAN and said people are being put under house arrest. I would like to clarify for the record that this has not been the case. No one has been placed on house arrest by having to use ArriveCAN.

What is the rationale for maintaining the ArriveCAN app, Minister, to the best of your knowledge? Why are we maintaining this app?

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

Canada, like several other countries around the world, continues to ask international arrivals to show their vaccination status. ArriveCAN enables travellers to provide verification of their vaccination status electronically so that they are processed a lot faster than they would be manually. It actually improves the efficiency of processing international arrivals. Without it, we would be adding several minutes to each passenger as they arrive at our borders, and we would be causing more congestion at our borders.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Do we have any evidence, Minister, that the ArriveCAN app is suppressing cross-border travel and tourism? Tourism is very important. We have a wonderful country, and our neighbours to the south want to visit our great nation. As far as you know, is there any evidence that this is being suppressed?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Please give a 15-second response, Minister.

[Omar Alghabra, Liberal, Mississauga Centre, ON]

There is no evidence, Ms. Koutrakis. However, I am aware that several border communities have been flagging this as an issue. We will continue to work with them on how we can increase the facilitation of international arrivals.

Let me just state this. At airports, international arrivals are currently at 99.5% compliance rates. That is almost 100%. There is no evidence whatsoever that ArriveCAN is causing any problems.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you, Minister.

Thank you very much, Ms. Koutrakis.

Mr. Barsalou‑Duval, you have the floor for six minutes.