Thank you, Mr. Chair, and welcome, Minister.
Minister, as we know, Canadians need or want to travel at certain times of the year, to visit their families or go on a vacation. Geographically, we live in a big country, so aviation is our principal mode of transportation.
We also know that we've come out of two years of the pandemic, and the air sector, the aviation sector, was probably the worst-hit sector, not only here in Canada but around the globe. It has gotten back on its feet and is incrementally moving forward. There are some bumps along the way, which we see here as well as in the United States, with what happened with Southwest Airlines last week.
Our government, prior to COVID, was acting, including with the air passenger bill of rights and by introducing air passenger protections—unlike the previous government, which was in power for 11 years, did not take any action to protect consumers at all, and left it in the hands of private corporations—and I very much applaud this.
My first question for you, Minister, is with regard to the potential changes that may come in strengthening the air passenger protections that are in place. Will there be opportunities for Canadians to weigh in on those proposed changes?