Mr. Speaker, for many years, the official opposition has been accusing the government of favouring the carrier Canadian at the expense of Air Canada, which employs 7,000 people in Quebec. We are not the only ones to say so. Last week, the international executive officer of Cathay Pacific Airlines, the main carrier in Hong Kong, stated: "There is a lot of politics behind this decision-I think that Canada is trying not to put too much pressure on Canadian International".
In the House of Commons on October 1st, 1996. See this statement in context.