Transport Committee on Aug. 19th, 2022

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is for Ms. Lutfallah, because she was unable to finish answering the question I asked her earlier about quarantine verification.

From what I understood, notifications can be sent through the ArriveCAN app, and there may be telephone verifications.

Are physical verifications also made to determine whether people are complying with quarantines?

[Jennifer Lutfallah]

We do on-site verification as well, based on the risk that the individual may pose with respect to non-compliance. In very limited circumstances, after we have the on-site verification, which is usually done by a security company, we will refer some of those more egregious cases to police of jurisdiction.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

Do you have an approximate idea of numbers? For example, how many physical verifications were conducted this summer?

What percentage of individuals in quarantine have been physically verified?

[Jennifer Lutfallah]

I will have to get that number for you. I don't have it readily accessible.

[Xavier Barsalou-Duval, Bloc, Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, QC]

All right.

We would be grateful if you could provide that information later.

Mr. Keenan, there's a lot of talk about ArriveCAN and bugs. People wonder whether the app works and whether it's effective in reducing waiting times. We're still gathering data and evidence on that. We also hear that the ArriveCAN app may be retained for the long term.

I'd like to know the government's intentions in that regard. Will the ArriveCAN app become permanent? Will it be terminated or not?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

I would ask you to answer in 15 seconds, Mr. Keenan.

[Michael Keenan]

It's hard for me, as a public official, to say what the government's policy decisions will be.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much.

Next we have Mr. Bachrach.

Mr. Bachrach, the floor is yours. You have two and a half minutes.

[Taylor Bachrach, NDP, Skeena—Bulkley Valley, BC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

I have a question for Mr. Keenan regarding the air passenger protection regulations.

You mentioned the new amendments to the regulations that are coming into effect on September 8. Last week, on August 10, Transport Canada issued a statement stating that “amendments to the Air Passenger Protection Regulations will come into force to ensure passengers are compensated for flight delays, cancellations, and other incidents that may be out of an air carrier's control.” We looked into those amendments, and the amendments don't do that at all. The amendments essentially refund passengers their airfare if they're not able to complete their trip within a certain amount of time.

Can you speak to why Transport Canada put out such a misleading press release and is not clear about what these amendments actually achieve?

[Michael Keenan]

Mr. Chair, the member points out an important improvement in the air passenger protection regulations that actually has, as its antecedent, the complete shutdown of air travel back in March 2020. What happened there is that the passenger rights system had a set of obligations for carriers in terms of the treatment of passengers, whether or not a delay is within their control. However, the regulations didn't envisage the kind of catastrophic shutdown we saw in March 2020, so they didn't speak to what you would do if the air carrier can't actually complete the journey in a reasonable time. That generated the issue of vouchers versus refunds.

This change ensures that if the passengers want, they can get compensation in the form of a full cash reimbursement of the ticket if it's a situation where it's impossible for the airline to complete the journey within a reasonable time.

Short of this amendment, the airlines still have obligations, even in situations under the current rules as they exist today, before September 8, for rebooking passengers and duty of accommodation and care, even if the cause of the delay is outside of their control. This bolsters the rights of passengers and gives them the ability to declare, no, they just want a refund and they just want their money back.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Bachrach, and thank you, Mr. Keenan.

Next we have Mr. Baldinelli for five minutes.

The floor is yours.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Thank you, Chair.

My questions are going to be for Mr. Vinette.

Thank you for being here. It's good to see you again.

Mr. Vinette, one of the main issues plaguing our airports is not only ArriveCAN, but we're also hearing about a severe shortage in staffing with regard to CBSA officers, not only at our airports but also at our land border points of entry. What does CBSA need to do to achieve its full staffing complement in Canada? How many officers are we short?

[Denis Vinette]

The CBSA plans every year for its seasonal fluctuations in traffic in the various modes—land, airports and through the cruise ship season—and aligns its resources and moves them accordingly.

In support of the air transportation sector, we hire student border services officers every year, and they come on strength after their school year ends in April. They help us and we retain some of them through the balance of the year so they're ready to be on site the following year. They supplement our workforce.

In terms of the overall workforce, like other sectors, we have had individuals who, as a result of COVID and other measures, have been unable to attend the workplace, and we've respected that and we've worked with them. They've continued to contribute to our border services by supporting the front line through other venues and other programs to ensure that we could sustain the capacity.

We continue to advance the staffing, and I'm pleased to report that we've actually doubled our recruitment target for the next two years in order to offset the loss of some officers as a result of the COVID restrictions that may have affected them and their ability to return to the workplace.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Thank you for that.

I was just checking the CBSA employment page earlier, before coming over, and there was a COVID notice. It said, “Due to the impacts of COVID-19, we are experiencing unforeseen delays with some aspects of the selection process.” Speaking with several stakeholder groups.... They had heard that the CBSA training session was closed during COVID. Possibly that's why there are the shortages and the backlog of officers needed.

I'm wondering if you can confirm that. Was that training centre in fact closed for a period of time? Did that add to the backlog? Why are we still “experiencing unforeseen delays with some aspects of the selection process”?

[Denis Vinette]

The CBSA did shutter its national college for recruitment in Rigaud, Quebec for two cycles, I believe. I would have to confirm that.

When it was safe to do so, we reopened. We actually had individuals report to the college. They would quarantine for the 14 days before classes. Visitors were kept from entering the location to ensure that we could keep the college as sterile as possible. We are now back in full operation. As I stated, we will be doubling our recruitment in order to deploy—

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Thank you.

In terms of that cohort—you mentioned two cohorts—how many officers would that have been in total?

[Denis Vinette]

In a given year, we target about 275 to 300 new recruits. Therefore, it could have been upwards of 600. We are now back in full cycle, and we will complement our resources by doubling those cohorts for the next two years.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Was CBSA unable to operate? Colleges and universities, even the Ontario Police College, were operating in a virtual manner. Why was the training centre not able to do the same?

[Denis Vinette]

The type of work that we undertake requires that our officers learn hands-on both how to operate systems—they have to have access to those systems—and how to inspect vehicles. They do use-of-force training throughout the entire curriculum. Our training for officers is 20 weeks long. The first four are at their residence, online, and then the following 16 need to be in person. It's very similar to police training and recruitment.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Thank you.

Mr. Vinette, when we last met, in June—it was at the international trade committee—I asked you if you had the opportunity to visit Niagara Falls, which is the number one leisure tourism destination in Canada. With only four weeks left, I'm truly hoping you were able to do so. Is that the case?

[Denis Vinette]

I vacation. My summer vacation was spent in Niagara-on-the-Lake and in Niagara Falls this summer. I have not visited my operations there at this time. I've been heavily focused on the airport operations.

It's been well in hand with our regional director general for the area, with whom I'm in touch on a daily basis to ensure that we are being responsive to the demands in terms of the volume of individuals travelling through our land borders, which is now recovered to just above 60% of historical volumes.

[Tony Baldinelli, Conservative, Niagara Falls, ON]

Consider this your invitation to come down. I'd love to have you down. We have four bridges in my riding alone. Two of those are in the top four commercial land crossings in all of Canada. They are vitally important to us to ensure the efficient and effective flow of traffic. We would like to have you down, speaking to those two bridge commissions. In fact, we're finding bridge traffic down to 50% prepandemic, but we're finding wait times that could be over two hours, in comparison to prepandemic times. We need to find a better solution to those impacting the efficient flow of tourism and trade crossing those border points.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Baldinelli. I'm reluctant to point out that I did not receive an invitation to your riding as well. It's very sad, but we'll move on to Ms. Koutrakis.

Ms. Koutrakis, you have five minutes. The floor is yours.

[Annie Koutrakis, Liberal, Vimy, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

My question is for Mr. Keenan.

We heard a lot of claims, especially from my colleagues in the Conservative Party, that only the federal government supports keeping ArriveCAN.

I'm just curious to know if you're aware of a letter that was sent to the chair of the Standing Committee on International Trade earlier this year. I will quote Lorrie McKee, who is the director of public affairs and stakeholder relations at the Greater Toronto Airports Authority: “Starting on June 28, travellers arriving from international destinations now have the option at Toronto Pearson and Vancouver International Airport of completing their customs declaration in ArriveCAN 72 hours before travel, reducing the time they need to spend at a kiosk in the customs hall by up to 50%. We have already seen significant improvements and benefits as a result of this digital integration.”

Besides the GTAA having this opinion, have you heard from any other airport authorities that share the same opinion of ArriveCAN?

[Michael Keenan]

Mr. Chair, I could offer a general answer to the member's question and then turn it over to a colleague from CBSA.

On this issue, I would say that, as I indicated in an answer to an earlier question, a lot of hard slogging was done with all partners to get the throughput up through the customs hall and move a lot of people through a small space as traffic came back. There was a lot of really good work our CBSA and GTAA colleagues did in terms of passenger facilitation and passenger flow wayfinding. They could talk about that in some detail, but at the heart of that strategy was using electronic tools and digital systems to get people through faster. That included adding a number of kiosks to the customs hall at Pearson. It added a number of eGates, and the new functionality that CBSA brought on was the eDeclaration, which is integrated into ArriveCAN.

I would say that, in our discussions with industry and the air operations recovery group, the expansion, the use and improving the functionality of digital tools to make for a faster and easier travel process for passengers and to facilitate the international arrivals process are actually a centre point of our discussions. All the industry partners support finding the best combination of tools that respect the privacy of passengers but use digital technology to facilitate that passenger flow, and we're continuing discussions with them almost daily in terms of how to keep making progress in that area.

I don't know, Denis, if you want to add to that, because you guys are on the sharp end of delivering a lot of this.