Transport Committee on Sept. 28th, 2022

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting No. 30 of the Standing Committee on Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(2) and the motion adopted by the committee on Thursday, February 3, 2022, the committee is meeting to study reducing red tape and costs on rural and urban Canadian airports.

Today's meeting is taking place in a hybrid format, pursuant to the House order of Thursday, November 25, 2021. Members are attending in person in the room and remotely using the Zoom application.

Members of the committee, today we have joining us as witnesses, from Aéroports de Montréal, Martin Massé, vice-president, public affairs and sustainable development; from the Air Transport Association of Canada, John McKenna, president and chief executive officer; from the Calgary Airport Authority, Carmelle Hunka—I hope I pronounced that correctly; if I did not, please take the time to correct me when it's your turn to speak—vice-president, people, risk and general counsel; and from the Vancouver Airport Authority, Trevor Boudreau, manager, government relations.

First I'd like to apologize to our witnesses who are joining us today for starting so late. Unfortunately, votes went long in the House, and we're going to try to make up time as we go.

We'll begin with the opening remarks from Aéroports de Montréal. Mr. Massé, the floor is yours for five minutes.

[Martin Massé, Vice-President, Public Affairs and Sustainability, Aéroports de Montréal]

Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.

Like other Canadian airport authorities, Aéroports de Montréal, or ADM, is a community-based non-profit organization. ADM is the airport authority responsible for managing, operating and developing Montréal-Trudeau International Airport, or YUL, and the International Aerocity of Mirabel, or YMX, under a lease entered into with Transport Canada in 1992 that will expire in 2072.

Governed by an independent board of directors consisting of professional and independent managers, ADM receives no government operating grants and generally funds its infrastructure and other projects from its cash flow and debt. ADM has approximately 500 employees at its two airport sites.

Our lease sets forth certain rights and obligations of the parties to ensure that ADM carries out its mission for the community and ultimately provides the Government of Canada with state-of-the-art infrastructure. ADM is also required to submit to various processes, such as the one conducted by the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada, when it wishes to operate on its land. Those rights and obligations form a whole.

To provide greater Montreal with adequate infrastructure, the Canadian airport model is based on the airport authorities' borrowing capacity for the purpose of making required investments.

ADM is therefore a private corporation that manages public services. Its mission, in a sustainable development perspective, is to connect Montreal to the entire world through the talent and passion of its teams and to provide remarkable, safe and efficient services while developing its facilities and contributing to its community's prosperity with the vitality that characterizes greater Montreal.

ADM intends to succeed in its various operational sectors—airport, property and commercial services—and to operate its two sites to their full potential. To that end, YUL operates as a domestic and international hub for airlines transporting passengers both in and outside Canada. It is the gateway east of the Great Lakes to the regions of Quebec.

YUL was growing fast until the first quarter of 2020 and was committed to providing an efficient platform to its world-class airline and airport services partners. The international service that YUL offers has made it an envied air traffic hub in northeastern North America.

YUL supports more than 50,000 jobs in Quebec and contributes $6.8 billion to the province's nominal gross domestic product. With more than 200 businesses on its site, it's a major driver of economic activity.

In 2019, through 34 carriers, YUL served a total of 152 permanent and seasonal destinations: 90 overseas, 30 in the United States and 32 in Canada, including 13 in Quebec. It was the number 3 airport in Canada with more than 20 million passengers annually and first for the number of passengers travelling to and from a foreign city. Although YUL is already doing as well as it was in 2019, if not better, it isn't expected to return completely to pre-pandemic operational levels and numbers of flight offerings until 2024. After more than two years of pandemic conditions, YUL should quickly return to its previous role.

YMX, on the other hand, is a booming aviation hub whose partners include aerospace industry leaders and world-class businesses. It's also an industrial and logistical hub housing a fast-emerging transportation electrification sector. This duality poses unique challenges for ADM with regard, for example, to the expertise of its teams and additional costs.

ADM thus has to manage two sites with completely different missions and businesses. Despite those differences, no distinction is made in our lease between YUL and YMX, particularly as regards the rent Transport Canada charges. Before 2020, the revenue YUL generated offset YMX's operating deficit. During the pandemic, however, YUL stopped producing enough revenue to cover that expense.

We are also facing other challenges. ADM makes the highest payments in lieu of taxes, or PILT, of all airport authorities in Canada. In 2019. that charge amounted to $36.4 million for YUL alone, which represented 16% of its operating costs and a cost per passenger of $1.79, compared to $1.00 or less for all major airports. With the drastic decline in the number of travellers, that figure rose to $6.44 per passenger in 2020 and $6.65 in 2021. We've been harping on the need to put an end to this unfair situation for years now, without any support from the three orders of government.

In addition to having to bear the maintenance and operating costs of two sites, to pay Transport Canada a single unified rate and to make the highest PILT of all major airports, ADM also inherited the oldest terminal in Canada at its inception 30 years ago. The main body of Montréal-Trudeau International Airport dates back to the 1960s.

In closing, the assistance the federal government provides through the airport critical infrastructure program has been very valuable. Unfortunately, it has now been terminated and no additional funding was announced in the last budget.

However, in the wake of the pandemic, which radically undermined our organization's finances, resulting in additional debt of nearly $1 billion, ADM must continue its investment program to ensure that YUL's infrastructure meets the community's needs. More specifically, ADM must build a Réseau express métropolitain station and finance $500 million of the $600 million total cost of the project. ADM will also have to invest heavily to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and thus help decarbonize airport operations.

ADM will therefore be facing an enormous challenge over the next decade. Unless the Canadian airport model is reviewed, the requirements that have been added since airports were privatized in the 1990s will have to be examined. The airline industry is facing major challenges as it emerges from the pandemic, but it also has an opportunity to improve the Canadian airport model provided we have the means to do so.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Massé.

Next we have, from the Air Transport Association of Canada, Mr. McKenna.

Mr. McKenna, the floor is yours. You have five minutes for your opening remarks.

[John McKenna, President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Transport Association of Canada]

Thank you. Good afternoon.

The Air Transport Association of Canada has represented this country's commercial air transport industry since 1934. Our 175 members are engaged in all levels of commercial aviation and flight training in every region of Canada. Our membership includes very large international and transborder carriers, regional carriers, flight training organizations as well as the Canadian air transport support industry.

The obvious focus for the past two years has been on getting through the pandemic and now on the road to recovery in a vastly different socio-economic environment where consumer behaviour has been forever modified. Not only is it extremely difficult to predict the future demand for air travel, our industry and the travelling public are facing cost increases that could completely alter the demand.

Inefficient government services at the department, within airports' security and at customs are only adding to the chaos. The fact that Canada lagged behind the world in eliminating COVID-related health restrictions certainly has not helped create the winning conditions that we so urgently need.

To limit further serious damage to the air transport industry and to help us work towards full recovery, and thus enable Canada's economic recovery, the government needs to change its attitude towards aviation in Canada. The government must stop thinking of the air transport industry as a revenue stream. No other mode of transport is targeted the way the air transport industry is. Why, on the one hand, does the government draw over $1 billion from fees and charges from aviation, which are not found in any other mode of transport, while on the other hand finance passenger rail in the order of hundreds of millions of dollars?

Total Via Rail passenger count in 2020 was 1.15 million, a 75% drop over 2019, a percentage loss similar to that of air transport in the same period. Yet, Via Rail received operational and capital subsidies of $669 million in 2020, that is $582 per passenger.

Need I remind this committee that Via Rail carries less than five million passengers on a good year as compared to close to 150 million passengers in aviation. One could easily conclude that aviation is subsidizing rail in this country.

To limit the crippling damage to the Canadian air industry, the government needs to implement the following ten recommendations.

One, stop using aviation as a revenue stream.

Two, failing that, at least reinvest aviation-generated revenues back into the aviation sector.

Three, seriously consider regional aviation as a vital link in Canada's connectivity.

Four, invest in regional and northern air infrastructure since the user-pay model just can't sustain operations in these regions that depend almost entirely on aviation. This is the key to their ability to provide the service needed to support the unobstructed flow of passengers throughout Canada. Not only do the remote and northern airports offer a vital socio-economic link to the rest of Canada, but many of them are important feeders of international passengers to and from other Canadian airports.

Five, establish a federally backed funding program for all students attending designated learning institutions offering professional flight training or post-secondary institutions providing Transport Canada-approved air transport maintenance engineer programs that are accredited by the provincial acts, such as the Ontario Private Career Colleges Act. This would help attract the increased number of pilot and maintenance trainees so desperately needed to address future shortages that are already on our doorsteps today.

Six, fix the backlog and processing of student visas and work permits in the world of aviation. This recommendation is for the Minister of Immigration.

Seven, privatize the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority at no cost to the air transport industry or their passengers. In other words, abandon the idea of imposing a $600‑million price tag for assets already paid for many times over by passengers through the Air Travellers Security Charge.

Eight, consider Nav Canada as an essential service and support it financially should they sustain another such catastrophic drop in revenue because of a national crisis rather than force it to increase fees to air carriers.

Nine, instead of spending money on politically motivated projects, such as high-frequency rail that traffic volumes will never justify nor financially sustain, the government needs to develop, in co-operation with industry, a national air transport policy focused on multimodality. This would yield economic, connectivity and environmental benefits.

Ten and finally, keep in mind that air transport is now a way of life. In fact, it's a way of survival for many. It's not a luxury, but an economic enabler.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. McKenna.

Next, from the Calgary Airport Authority, we have Carmelle Hunka.

The floor is yours. You have five minutes.

[Carmelle Hunka, Vice-President, People, Risk and General Counsel, Calgary Airport Authority]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Good afternoon, members of the committee.

My name is Carmelle Hunka, and I am a vice-president at the Calgary Airport Authority. I'm very pleased to be before the committee today on behalf of the authority.

I want to open by stating that the experience we provide to guests at YYC Calgary International Airport relies on multiple partners to ensure travellers are provided with a smooth and efficient experience. These include airlines and our government partners, such as Transport Canada, CATSA, CBSA and PHAC. YYC Calgary International Airport has adapted and continues to effectively adapt to changing measures and emerging concerns at airports. Creating positive travel experiences for air passengers involves all partners doing their part.

With this in mind, the Calgary Airport Authority is pleased with the federal government's recent announcements removing mandatory random testing for arriving international air passengers and making the use of the ArriveCAN app and masks optional. The removal of these last restrictions allows Canadians to travel free of restrictions consistent with the rest of the world and allows our industry to be in a strong position to recover.

As with other airports across Canada, the pandemic has had an enormous impact on our operations. In 2019, we welcomed 18 million passengers to the Calgary International Airport and generated $8 billion of GDP, an all-time high. As the pandemic hit, the impact to our airport was catastrophic. Total passenger volume fell to 5.7 million passengers in 2020, and only slightly recovered to 6.3 million passengers in 2021, but we are on the road to recovery.

In 2022, we are estimating that passenger volume will more than double to 14.3 million passengers travelling through our airport over the course of the year, a welcome improvement though still well below the 2019 level of passenger volume. We're proud to report that YYC was the most recovered major airport in Canada with passenger volumes in July and August reaching 2019 passenger volumes. The stronger we are at YYC, the greater our contributions are to the city, the region and the country as a whole.

A huge success story for YYC was the implementation of virtual queuing for our security screening points. Known as YYC Express, virtual queuing involves passengers signing up online up to four days in advance of their flight to secure a space in line at one of our security screening points. This allowed YYC to spread passengers out to some of the less busy screening points during the peak periods, alleviating wait times. YYC Express gives passengers a stated time in the queue providing certainty and minimizing time in the security screening line. YYC Express was very successful, such that now other airports in Canada will be implementing and adopting the technology for their own versions of this virtual queuing.

This virtual queuing was implemented and funded solely by the Calgary Airport Authority. We pay for the staff to manage the queue, to scan the QR codes and to implement the technology associated with the queuing. We funded YYC Express at the same time as we were required to take on almost $300 million in additional debt during the pandemic—an investment in providing a more efficient experience for our guests.

We call on the federal government to invest in technology to assist in the guest experience, such as virtual queuing, improved screening equipment that can provide a seamless experience to travellers, and technology where guests can move through customs and immigration more efficiently.

With respect to the ground lease, we request additional items to ask for a reduction in red tape. First, we recommend modernization of the ground lease compliance requirements. Great administrative expense is expended by airports on an annual basis to meet administrative compliance requirements to demonstrate that we're in compliance with our lease. Most critically, the rent payments the authority makes to the federal government through its ground lease are a significant airport expense. In July and August alone, YYC will pay over $2 million each month in federal rent and receive nothing in return. In 2020, the ground lease payments were waived in response to an unpredictable and drastic decline in customer volume, but the 2021 ground lease payments were only deferred to be paid at a later date. While we welcomed this support, the government's approach to lease payments was not sufficient to offset the continued decline in revenue we experienced as a result of the pandemic.

As its tenant, the authority is looking for the federal government to reinvest its ground lease rent payments back into the airport through investments in environmentally sustainable core infrastructure, and we ask for reintroduction of funding for critical capital projects through the national trade corridors fund or reintroduction of ACIP.

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Ms. Hunka.

Next, and finally, we have, from the Vancouver Airport Authority, Mr. Boudreau.

Mr. Boudreau, the floor is yours. You have five minutes for your opening remarks.

[Trevor Boudreau, Manager, Government Relations, Vancouver Airport Authority]

Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you, committee members.

I'm joining you today from Vancouver International Airport, which is located on the traditional and unceded territory of the Musqueam Indian Band. Before I begin, I'd like to pay my respect to elders past and present.

I'm here today to represent the more than 20,000 workers that work at YVR every day.

Today, I offer the following recommendations on how government can support Canada's airports to the benefit of Canadian travellers and our economy. They are framed around: first, improving government processes and addressing regulatory barriers; second, the faster adoption of technology and innovation; and third, partnering with airports to accelerate investments that we are already making to evolve Canada's airports to next-generation economic engines.

Canada's airports are a dynamic ecosystem. We were an industry that expertly operated just-in-time supply chains that moved millions of bags, people and goods through our airports every day, so it has been difficult for our sector to experience the growing pains that we did over the past months.

Today, we're on a path to return to our prepandemic performance, and that is thanks in large part to our dedicated and fantastic workforce, our proactive planning and coordination with other partners and our relentless focus on innovation.

First, on the labour challenge, it's important to note that the airport proper at YVR is a certified living wage employer, and that means we pay our workers a fair wage for our region. In one case, that living wage policy helped us recruit more 80 new frontline workers this spring and have them on the floor in a matter of weeks. More than 600 people applied for those positions to work at YVR.

During the pandemic, we also accelerated our digital transformation and launched a new digital twin platform. This summer, we put that technology into the hands of those frontline workers, and that allowed them to monitor and deploy resources in real time to support travellers, airlines and government agencies when they needed it.

We also partnered with our Canadian airport colleagues and government agencies to quickly develop, test and deploy innovations. Those solutions are driving down wait times today, and they're reducing costs.

Of course, I would be remiss if I didn't mention the $150 million we will be spending over the next 10 years to become Canada's first net-zero airport by 2030.

How can government support us further?

On our first recommendation, YVR strongly encourages the federal government to remove the regulatory barriers that impede modernization of traveller security screen processes that are currently overseen by CATSA. The reality is that Canada's security screening regulatory structure is outdated and does not allow Canada to evolve to the risk-based approach to passenger security screening that we need today and that we see with our other G7 peer countries.

Specifically, rewriting the security screening measures is needed to start afresh. Importantly, the simplification of these regulations will create the operational flexibility our partners need to improve security throughputs, all without impacting the critical security function that frontline security screeners offer.

Furthermore, there is an urgent need for the Government of Canada to work with the U.S. government and reopen NEXUS enrolment centres in Canada. The NEXUS program has grown significantly over the past several years and is incredibly well subscribed by Canadians, yet today Canadians can't obtain a new NEXUS card, nor can they renew their existing enrolment.

On our second recommendation, YVR has clearly demonstrated how we can use data and digital solutions to improve our operational performance. In addition to launching our own digital twin platform, all of the airports in front of the committee today are collaborating in rolling out new innovations.

I'll draw your attention to the virtual queuing for security screening that Carmelle mentioned just a moment ago. That was piloted at Calgary International Airport and, as Carmelle mentioned, was a tremendous success. It's now going to be launched at all other large airports in Canada very shortly, and I'm proud to announce that YVR Express will be launching next week for our passengers.

There's an immediate opportunity for the federal government to join us to explore further innovations and deploy them quickly.

On our final recommendation, we are going to be living in a supply-constrained world for the next decade. As a result, we need to make significant joint investments in Canada's infrastructure.

At YVR, during the pandemic we identified the need to expand and enhance our cargo and logistics throughput, so we are actively putting $150 million of capital in place right now to expand YVR's air cargo operations, and that is for the benefit of Canadian cargo carriers. Importantly, this $150-million investment will facilitate more than $250 billion in domestic and international trade over the next 20 years. That's significant.

In partnership with airports, indigenous, and other non-government capital, we believe continued federal funding via programs such as the national trade corridors fund will help accelerate our investments.

In conclusion, we are meeting the challenges in front of us while also doing our part to keep air travel affordable and safe for Canadians. We appreciate the committee’s interest in exploring additional ways to reduce red tape and costs.

I look forward to taking your questions. Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much, Mr. Boudreau.

We will begin the line of questioning today with Ms. Rood.

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

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Thank you, witnesses, for being here today to discuss this very important study.

Over the summer, I had the opportunity to do a lot of travelling across this country, visiting many airports, talking with folks on the ground and talking with people in rather rural communities and some of our northern communities as well. I've seen the frustrations in the airports, whether it be lineups, delays, baggage sitting everywhere, not enough security, or problems by not having a NEXUS card. We're seeing that all of these things are contributing to an unhappy experience for many Canadians across this country with travel.

Thankfully, we've seen in recent days that the government is finally having some clarity on getting rid of all of the COVID mandates and dropping COVID mandates so that we can get back to regular travel in Canada. We're also seeing our economy hopefully pick up with international travellers who have been hesitant to come to Canada thanks to having to use the ArriveCAN app or because of the vaccine policy.

I'm not sure who would want to respond to my first question. Maybe some of the airports would.

Sir, you mentioned that YVR is talking about making greater investments. I'm just wondering how the airports plan to deal with the surge in passengers that we're going to see probably very abundantly and very quickly in the coming days with the restrictions removed. I know that a lot of the people I've talked to in other places who have been waiting to come to Canada to visit relatives are very eagerly hoping to get on a plane very quickly.

Could you tell us what you plan to do to help alleviate some of these stresses or what the government could do in the very short term to help alleviate some of the stresses right now?

[Trevor Boudreau]

Thank you, MP Rood.

We're very excited to welcome them back to Canada and to YVR. It's important to acknowledge for the committee that YVR did not experience the significant impacts we saw at other airports across Canada. To a certain degree, that was because of the way air travel did rebound earlier this year, but it was also thanks to some careful planning and investments we made in advance of the pandemic and also during the pandemic. One project we were able to complete during the pandemic was a $300-million expansion of our international arrivals area. That's been helpful for us as we've seen the airplanes rebound.

In our customs hall, we did a lot of work with CBSA and partnered with them quite closely to fit out the customs hall with our kiosk technology. That was an innovation that was developed at YVR a number of years ago. It has actually been rolled out at airports across Canada, including Halifax, Winnipeg, Edmonton, Quebec City and others. As we look to greater technology, we are very supportive of moving border processes to outside of the customs hall. Certainly, applications such as ArriveCAN, for its intended use, which is to facilitate advance declarations that everyone has to do when you enter Canada via air, are helpful.

This summer we partnered with CBSA on a platform that is now loaded onto our kiosks that allows for that advance declaration and cuts travellers' wait time in the customs hall by half. Importantly, we see that reduced wait time even for large families where some folks might be technically savvy and have done an advance declaration, but maybe mom and dad don't know how to use technology. The children have to help them. Or perhaps they have small kids; they can facilitate there.

We see a huge opportunity to continue to partner with government agencies on those technology solutions.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Thank you.

Ms. Hunka, I'm wondering if you would like to comment on that as well and on what you're doing in Calgary. Is there a plan in the future to help alleviate the border issues by bringing in more border guards? I hear that was a concern in Vancouver. You have a great big hall now to bring in international passengers, but that's not going to help with the delays if we don't have enough border guards at the airports waiting to process them.

[Carmelle Hunka]

Thank you for the question.

Like the Vancouver airport, the Calgary airport did not experience some of the challenges that recently occurred with the surge in passengers. We are very mindful and we have a very strong relationship with our port director for CBSA. As a result, we have been able to assist CBSA through the provision of additional staff in the customs hall to move the passengers through the kiosk system and into the appropriate lines. That is the approach we've taken. It is really to partner and to staff up in some of those areas to help assist and move the passengers along.

As Trevor indicated, with respect to the technology advancements, it certainly would be helpful if the e-declaration or the advanced declaration online aligned with the system. Passengers would not be required to go through the process twice. Right now you go through the process on your app, and then you go to a kiosk and you have to confirm all the questions a second time. If we could get past that so that we had to respond to those questions only once, that would certainly alleviate passenger traffic and move it along more quickly. It is something that we would be advocating for.

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

Thank you very much.

Chair, is my time just about up?

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

You have 17 seconds left, Ms. Rood.

Do you want to allocate it to the next speaker?

[Lianne Rood, Conservative, Lambton—Kent—Middlesex, ON]

I will cede my 17 seconds. I will allocate it to the next speaker.

Thank you very much for those answers.

[The Chair, Liberal, Peter Schiefke]

Thank you very much. It's much appreciated.

Next we have Mr. Rogers.

Mr. Rogers, the floor is yours. You have six minutes.

[Churence Rogers, Liberal, Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL]

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

Welcome to our guests today.

I just want to note that of course over the past three years of sitting on this committee we have heard many witnesses talk about the airline industry during a very difficult period at the peak of the pandemic. Certainly the airline industry has gone through some very difficult times.

We've seen surprising rebound in terms of the number of people who have started travelling. I'm just curious as to the predictions that maybe the representatives from the airports were making about the future of air travel last year, how long it would take for the airline industry and the airline business to rebound with the demand there is to return to pre-COVID volumes and the rebound we've seen.

From your perspective, what were you predicting? What do you predict for next year or the year after?

I'll start with Mr. Massé and then allow the other two airport representatives to speak as well.

[Martin Massé]

Thank you for your question.

During my first intervention, I was very clear that we were expecting that at the latest the return to prepandemic levels would be 2024. We're already experiencing—and it's probably the same with the other large airports—around 85% to 90%. It will be slightly higher in 2023. We're expecting a return to a 100% in 2024 at the latest.

To add to what my colleagues said, our situations were slightly different because of the pattern of our networks. We are the most international ones. We had a lot of issues with regard to baggage connections, the American borders and the preclearance system and staffing there although not that many in terms of CBSA.

It's also a question of staffing on our partners' side, including airlines, with regard to ground handlers. That's pretty much where the focus has to be put from now on until they recover in 2024 at the latest.

[Churence Rogers, Liberal, Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL]

Ms. Hunka.

[Carmelle Hunka]

With respect to Calgary, yes, we are predicting 2024 as well.

We were originally predicting 2025, but recovery has come back more quickly. I think it's really important for the committee to appreciate and understand that while Calgary didn't experience the same challenges that Montreal and Toronto did, the airports are an ecosystem. What occurs in one airport affects all the other airports. As air carriers are impacted, as departures from Montreal and Toronto through the ecosystem to Calgary are impacted, we are impacted in terms of the service we deliver. It's really important that we consider the ecosystem and supporting the entirety of the ecosystem as we move forward.

[Churence Rogers, Liberal, Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL]

Go ahead, Mr. Boudreau.

[Trevor Boudreau]

I agree with everything that both Martin and Carmelle said, so I won't add anything further on that side.

On the staffing issue, again, that's an area that we are watching closely in our operation. Even before the pandemic hit, we saw a lot of movement of labour because of subpar wages. I mentioned our living wage policy, which is now relevant for some of our direct service contractors and all of our employees, and we are expanding that as of March of next year to all service contracts for the Vancouver Airport Authority.

We think that's important, because we don't want to see people hired in and then poached between different operators that operate at the airport. We want to see those workers stay with their employer and continue to provide benefit to the airport and to our community, which we are ultimately here to serve.

[Churence Rogers, Liberal, Bonavista—Burin—Trinity, NL]

Thank you.

I think we all understand how big a factor labour shortages played in the congestion problems at our airports, particularly the international airports. What would you like to say to those workers who stuck it out and kept working through such a challenging restart?

I'll ask Mr. McKenna to comment on that first.

[John McKenna]

We've always had a challenge with getting skilled labour, be they maintenance, pilots or whatever they do. The situation now has expanded so that shortages are at all levels of service employee in our environment.

The problem is that the passenger experience suffers because of all of this. When you go through an airport, there are delays, and it's not the airport's fault. There are delays caused by CATSA, by Immigration, by all kinds of things like that, and this all adds to the passenger experience. Even the wearing of masks in airplanes was causing a lot of grief amongst the passengers and those who had to deal with people's dissatisfaction.

We are really appreciative of the people who have stuck it out with us. Everyone's working toward recovery now. We need the government to catch up to us and help us along in all these efforts, however.