Madam Speaker, I am pleased to take part in the debate at third reading on Bill C-20, an Act respecting the commercialization of civil air navigation services.
Let me first say a word about my personnel flying experience. I am not very brave when it comes to flying. I only do so out of obligation, not pleasure. If, in addition to my natural fear, I feel my personal safety is at risk when I board an aircraft, I might think twice before flying again.
Nav Canada was just recently established. Incidentally, we have nothing against this non-profit corporation, which will manage services that are of public interest. It reminds me of a very similar corporation which I will tell you about, because it concerns people in my region.
Not too long ago, a similar non-profit corporation was established to manage services that are of public interest. I am referring to ADM. ADM is the corporation managing the Montreal and Mirabel airports.
Lately, it made a decision which, personally as member for Laurentides, I find totally unacceptable. This corporation, which is made up of business persons, is not accountable to the public. Its
members made a decision; they decided to transfer flights to Dorval; they decided to invest millions of dollars to develop Dorval airport without any public consultation.
ADM's decision to transfer flights was arrived at without public involvement. Social, economic and environmental impacts were not explained to decision makers as a whole, other stakeholders and people living in and around the areas concerned. This is funny, because this government is telling us about the fine well articulated pieces of legislation we have in this great country to ensure its prosperity, but it does not abide by them.
Not very long ago, the environment minister tabled an environmental bill we just could not support. We voted against it, but it was passed anyway by the government and is now in force. It concerns environmental assessments and overlaps our own legislation, the BAPE. In Quebec, we already had something which worked very well, but the federal government insisted on passing a bill on environmental assessments. This is fine and dandy.
And now, with ADM, our hands are tied. ADM goes ahead with its decision. We cannot demand that it shows us its assessments. We are not asking for new ones, it tells us it has already conducted assessments. All we want is to see the results, we want the process to be open. Same thing with the economic impact, and the social impact as well. What will happen in a region such as mine, the Laurentides region, and in the regions of Argenteuil-Papineau and Blainville-Deux-Montagnes, represented by two of my colleagues? What kind of impact will this have not only socially, on the community, but also on employment?
Especially when we are told that, within 15 years, operations will have to move back to Mirabel. As far as I am concerned, this is a decision that does not make any sense. We want facts. Prove to us that this is indeed the right decision. Produce the documents we have requested, put them on the table so that we can take a good look at them, then maybe, we will be in a position to discuss. For the time being, there is nothing definite. There is nothing on the table and we cannot get our hands on any facts. ADM is seven individuals who have made a certain decision.
I am not saying that a corporation like ADM or Nav Canada cannot make decisions, but I do think that, before creating a corporation like Nav Canada, which is already in existence, and passing this kind of legislation, in light of what ADM had done, we must make sure not to repeat our mistakes the second time around with this other not-for-profit corporation.
We should take some of the mistakes made par ADM and use them as examples to ensure that the same mistakes are not made again with another not-for-profit corporation. In privatizing services and transferring them to corporations along with the decision-making authority, we always run the risk of having decisions made behind closed doors, decisions that I personally find undemocratic, as I said earlier.
Bill C-20 just created yet another not for profit management corporation, which could at any time make the same kind of decisions that ADM made, decisions that may not be desirable because of the waves they are bound to make and the controversy they will cause in the public. I wonder why the government is not consulting the public before, instead of having to mend the fences after.
Here is one of many articles I have gathered on the subject. Let us say that, since ADM decided to sue, a flock of people have been writing on the subject. This paper on Mirabel reads as follows: "The future of Mirabel is closely connected to the future of the greater Montreal area, which will not do without its international airport". That was written by Jean Cournoyer.
Mirabel is not bankrupt, on the contrary. Mirabel is profitable but remains incomplete because, while the work was under way, the conductor did not agree with the concert master on the piece to be played. It is still a bold enterprise which, for reasons that do not come under its responsibility, ran out of breath before getting to the finish line.
In 1993, ADM, having done its homework, announced that the best solution to the problem of the two airports was to maintain the status quo. In 1993, it was the status quo. Three years later in 1996, ADM, after redoing its homework, announces that two airports are an impediment to traffic growth and proposes to allow regular international flights to land in Dorval.
As a staunch defender of freedom, I really believe that the main concern of an airport is to meet the needs of its clients. But let us consider the price we will have to pay to meet the needs of a hypothetical clientele: $36.4 million to build a temporary international jetty and renovate the international arrival lounge, plus $185 million to build a permanent international jetty and expand the multi-level parking garage, for a total of $221 million, except for the cost of an underground terminal for regular trains from Ottawa and Montreal. When I see that this money is to be invested over a 15-year period only, I do not understand the decision that was made. The people in my region are very disappointed in ADM's approach.
I now get back to Nav Canada, a non-profit organization. I sincerely believe that, in a case like this one-and, again, non-profit organizations are an excellent thing, but we must use both bad and good examples. Certainly, good things were achieved, but mistakes were also made by corporations like ADM. Before drafting a bill, we should at least ensure that public safety is mentioned in the preamble. That is a priority. Plane crashes are often fatal. I think the first thing we must do is to reassure the
people who fly-and who pay good money to do so-that their lives are not in danger.