Mr. Speaker, I am pleased today to take part in the Bloc Quebecois opposition day devoted to the airline industry.
The reason my party has had to devote one of these opposition days to this topic is that the government has refused to hold its own debate. In the case before us, the government seems to want to keep its actions hidden, withholding information from parliamentarians and not allowing all stakeholders in the airline industry to be heard.
On August 13, the federal government announced its decision to suspend section 47 of the Canada Transportation Act, a section having to do with the Competition Act, supposedly to make it easier to restructure the airline industry. At the time, the Minister of Transport said he wanted to allow the two Canadian companies to reach a mutually advantageous agreement. But a few days later, on August 24, 1999, Onex, in partnership with American Airlines, made a public offer to buy Air Canada and Canadian International and merge them. This is the real reason that the Liberal government decided to suspend the competition rules.
In addition, the government turned down a request from the Bloc Quebecois and other opposition parties to hold an emergency meeting of the Standing Committee on Transport in order to study the matter. The Liberal government also prorogued the session, delaying the resumption of parliament and thus sparing the government from having to answer questions on this subject that it would find very embarrassing.
That is why the Bloc Quebecois is today taking—