I find it quite alarming that despite all the 33,000 complaints, there have been no fines for failure to provide compensation. However, I'm going to move on to the officials from Transport Canada.
I'd like to speak to a slightly different issue. We've been focused on the situations faced by air passengers. Of course, on board those aircraft are also flight attendants, who are in many cases stuck in the same situations that the passengers are and are tasked with the very difficult job of managing hundreds of passengers under stressful and trying circumstances.
First, I want to thank them for the hard work they do. Second, I want to raise some of their concerns that have come to light.
First of all, I wasn't aware that flight attendants aren't paid unless they're actually on a flight. The recent disruptions have increased dramatically the amount of time that flight attendants aren't on board a flight, and have affected their overall pay. Secondly, the kind of duty time regulations that apply to pilots are not extended to flight attendants working in the back of the plane, despite the fact that their roles are critical to the safety of the passengers on board that aircraft.
Is the department aware of these concerns? Is it working on policy to address them?