Mr. Speaker, the question we are debating at this time is a very important one: the future of air transportation in Canada. On November 8, Air Canada shareholders will be asked to vote on a purchase bid from Onex Corporation.
In order to properly understand the present situation fully, we need to go back a number of years, to seven or eight years ago. The government of the day, and the one that followed it—the current government—told us over and over again how important it was to have two national air carriers.
The Bloc Quebecois indicated on numerous occasions that the policy being pursued by the government was doomed to failure, leading possibly, potentially, to bankruptcy for one, if not both, of the companies. Yet the government continued its market intervention policy, sinking millions of dollars into it, but was still unable to get one of the two carriers, Canadian, out of the mess it was in. It was a waste of money.
The minister we have today, he who had already done enough damage at National Defence, committed the same errors of intervention. He committed the same error of not making a stand and he did not propose a solid, logical and rational framework. So money was wasted.
He promised us a business plan. We have seen what happened. Only this past August did he finally say “We need only one carrier if we are to be competitive”.
Yet all those years he intervened, blocking Air Canada's access to routes to Air Canada when the demand was there, always in the name of healthy competition, which was being maintained artificially by the investment of millions of dollars in Canadian International Airlines.
At that time we said the real danger was most definitely that American carriers would seize control of all air travel in Canada, for one company as much as for the other. The outcome has proven us right. American Airlines intervened in Canadian International, and even has a veto on major company decisions, thus proving that the true control of Canadian is indeed in the hands of American Airlines.
We had said that such a policy would be disastrous for regional transportation in small communities throughout Canada and Quebec. Once again, we have turned out to be right. Service is not, is no longer, what it was. Prices have gone up, despite this supposed competition, at an alarming rate. It costs more to fly from Montreal to the Magdalen Islands than it does to fly from Montreal to Paris. It is downright ridiculous and it is hurting regional economies.
Yet the need for just one national carrier was apparent if we looked at what other countries were doing. There are only two countries without such a policy: the United States—and everyone will agree that the economic, geographic and demographic situation, especially in the United States, is very different from ours—and Japan, which also has a very different situation. In all other countries, there is a single national carrier for international flights because there is already competition internationally.
Regional competition must be maintained, of course, perhaps by changing the charters of certain companies. I am thinking of companies such as Royal and Air Transat, which could handle regional transportation and would encourage the involvement of small companies providing entirely satisfactory regional service. I am thinking of Air Montréal, which is now offering fares from the Magdalen Islands to Montreal at half the cost of the major carriers.
But now the minister is changing his tune. He is telling us that we must follow market rules. He now worships market rules, and we have seen some divine interventions. The hand of God has taken on a Liberal form, and we have a Liberal puppet being operated by a corporation, which just happens to be contributing heavily to the Liberal Party. Here, we see the Liberal hand at work, and instead of talking about market rules, they should talk about speculators' rules, because this is what it is about.
These people do not care about the quality of transportation, about American control, about the importance and the development of regional economies. They are only interested in their stocks, they want what will bring them the highest return after the minister's divine intervention. This minister now wants to change the rules in mid-game. We were told yesterday that there are rules. A minister is responsible for rules. But this minister, through meetings with Onex attended by himself or his subordinates, is suggesting that the rules might be changed.
It is as if a referee in a hockey game were to change the size of the nets to accommodate the team he favours. We see it this morning—the editorial cartoons in the newspapers are very eloquent—this is not a minister, it is a corporation's puppet. He makes astounding leaps of logic when he tells us about what will come after the shareholders' decision—and let us not forget that the current offer made by Onex involves two corporations with more than the 10% limit, namely American Airlines with 14.99% and Onex with 31%. People will vote on that proposal even if the rules provide a 10% limit.
Then the minister asks us to think about the need to change the rules. Logic—I would say honesty—dictates that we debate the rules, we establish the rules before the game beings, so that subsequently all of the players may be on the same footing, instead of telling them “Begin the game, my friends, and if things do not go well for you, I will change the rules along the way”.
That is exactly what the minister is doing at the moment. The scenario was written ahead of time. The government had discussions with Onex; it intimated that they could go ahead and make their bid, since it would change the rules to please them. The minister can then play hero here, saying that 31% is far too much and perhaps it should be 15% or 20%.
Onex will then say that the minister has the public interest at heart, an interest that, more often than not, is confirmed at benefit suppers. The rules are being bent, so the company will accept the minister's decision.
That is hypocrisy at its finest, especially since, in 1981, if memory serves, on the rule of 10%, those opposite were opposed to the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec owning more than 10% of Canadian Pacific shares.
The argument raised by Pierre Elliott Trudeau was that it was unconstitutional for a provincial corporation to have more than 10% of the shares of a national corporation. The same thing is happening today, and what would have been unconstitutional for a province is apparently no longer so for a private individual.
And yet, other companies like Petro Canada and Via Rail have such rules. Last year, during the debate on the banks, this same government said “Do not touch the 10% clause, it is in the public interest”. And what about the public interest today? What is parliament's role? Is this a “cronies' republic” or are we under the control of the people's elected representatives? There is democratic icing over a layer of nepotism in this matter. That is what the minister is doing now.
This is why we are proposing the rule of 10% be maintained. We can debate it later on. And, if the rules have changed, there may be other offers, but changing the rules in mid-game is unacceptable. This is giving preference to one offer over the other, whereas one is legal and the other is not.