Thank you, Chair, for this opportunity to appear before the committee today.
As you know, the Canadian Transportation Agency is an independent administrative agency created by an act of Parliament.
The Canadian Transportation Agency is created by the Canada Transportation Act. As other administrative agencies, the Agency is part of the executive branch of government and is tasked with implementing government policies. It has a duty to be independent and impartial.
Under the Act, the Agency is given two roles. First, it acts as a quasi-judicial tribunal when deciding proceedings such as air travel complaints or rail complaints. Second, it acts as a regulatory body when making regulations, publishing guidelines, issuing determinations and enforcing compliance with the law. The Agency has to exercise all of its powers under both roles to fulfill its Parliament given mandate.
As a regulator, the agency issues licences to air carriers, issues the annual maximum revenue entitlement to CN and CP for the carriage of western grain for export, and approves railway line construction. The agency has also established and implemented the air passenger protection regulations—or APPR—the consumer protection regulations that apply to airlines.
The members of the agency, including the chair and CEO, are appointed by Governor in Council for fixed terms. The members are supported by a staff of public servants like me, who assist the members in their decision-making roles.
I understand that this committee is about ways to reduce red tape and costs for rural and urban airports to make air travel more affordable and more accessible. The agency's formal role with respect to airports is limited to accessibility for persons with disabilities.
With respect to accessibility at airports, the agency has established the regulatory framework and is responsible for enforcing that framework and helping to resolve passenger complaints, including through the formal adjudication of complaints by the agency, acting as a tribunal. Indeed, one of the agency’s core mandates is to protect the fundamental human right of persons with disabilities to accessible transportation services.
In 2019, the accessible transportation for persons with disabilities regulations—or ATPDR—were registered, with the majority of the provisions coming into force in 2020. Some more complex provisions were phased in over two years, with the final provisions coming into force in June 2022. The ATPDR apply to large federally regulated transportation carriers in the air, rail, marine and intercity bus modes, as well as to the terminals located in Canada that serve these carriers.
Air terminals and airports are subject to the ATPDR if they have emplaned or deplaned more than 200,000 air passengers in each of the two preceding calendar years or are located in a national or provincial capital.
With respect to air terminals and airports specifically, the ATPDR address key issues such as personnel training, as well as issues that were previously addressed through older regulations or codes of practice, such as the provision of wheelchairs and accessible self-service kiosks, as well as requirements for portable lifts, ramps or stairs necessary to board an aircraft.
The ATPDR also address issues that have been raised through consultations and through the agency’s complaints adjudication process, such as the requirement for curbside assistance and service dog relief areas on the secure side of a terminal.
With some exceptions, such as those just mentioned, the technical provisions for air terminals are forward-facing. This means they apply to modifications made to existing equipment or facilities and to future procurement. In these cases, there is no requirement to retrofit existing equipment and facilities.
Smaller airports that are not subject to the ATPDR are nonetheless subject to older provisions in the existing personnel training for the assistance of persons with disabilities regulations and relevant provisions of the agency’s six voluntary codes of practice.
In addition to the ATPDR, the agency has recently enacted the Accessible Transportation Planning and Reporting Regulations, or ATPRR. The ATPRR apply to all regulated entities that are required to meet any agency accessibility-related regulations. They require that accessibility plans and progress reports be published on a three-year cycle and that persons with disabilities be consulted on them. To assist regulated entities with the implementation of accessibility regulations, the agency has created resources which have been made available on its website, such as guidance material and training videos.
Thank you. I will be happy to take questions.