Madam Speaker, I will be delighted to share my time with my hon. colleague and good friend from Mississauga Centre.
I was interested to hear the debate, particularly from the Bloc members when they talked about the various issues surrounding the 10%. What I have not heard them talk about, and I am a little puzzled by this, is the real motivation behind them putting this issue before the House.
Before I talk about that I want to thank them for bringing this forward. Frankly, I think it is a good opportunity for many of us. I have many, many employees of Air Canada and some of Canadian Airlines living in my riding who have been calling me. This gives me an opportunity to put my views on the record and discuss the issue here in parliament.
Members opposite say that there is no debate. What are we doing today? Everyone is being given an opportunity to express their views. In fact, what the Bloc has done is exactly what the Minister of Transport asked parliamentarians to do; to give their views to him, to give our best advice to him, and obviously to reflect the feelings and opinions of our constituents so that he indeed can deal with a number of the issues involving this potential merger.
The minister has not changed the rules. For members opposite to say so is nothing more than misleading. Maybe it is intentional, perhaps to get around the real underlying issue.
I suggest that the problem the Bloc has, which I think I understand, is that the head office of Air Canada is in the great city of Montreal. We all know that in recent history there have been dozens of major corporations move out of the city of Montreal, which I think is a tragedy. Why have they done so? They have done so because of policies put in place by the current provincial government, and other provincial governments before it, led by separatists. They have done so because of the separatist policies of the Bloc. They cannot do business with the uncertainty that exists in the province of Quebec. I think that is a shame.
In fact, one member opposite made a remark that Bloc members are working hard at committee and that they participate in debate in the House. Let me tell the House that he is right. I have been quite impressed with the number of members of the Bloc who have come to the citizenship and immigration committee and to the public accounts committee to make good quality contributions to the committee and to the democratic process. It is because they do not discuss the issue of separation. The one flame that continues to burn in the heart of that party is to separate the province of Quebec from the rest of Canada. We know that.
If we could leave that issue aside and take it out of the body politic of the Bloc, we would find some very decent, hard-working men and women who can contribute to this place. However, as long as that is there, I submit that it clouds virtually every issue which they address. It also leads to hidden agendas, which is, frankly, what we are seeing here today.
Having said that, I believe the Bloc has done us a favour in at least bringing it forward. The Bloc members know the government is not going to support them but that does not matter. What matters is that as parliamentarians we have the opportunity to stand here and to tell our constituents exactly what is going on. If we simply want to read the newspapers, as the hon. member earlier did, we can get any kind of distorted view we wish to and we can put it forward as having some sort of credibility.
If the minister had changed the rule unilaterally without discussion in this place, I too would be upset. That is not what he has done. I sat at the committee meeting. I am not a member of the transport committee but I wanted to hear firsthand what the minister's plan was. He said that he wanted our views, that he wanted some consultation, that he wanted to hear from members of all parties in the House of Commons. Imagine opposition members complaining about that. It is really quite remarkable. They must get up in the morning and ask “What has the government done that we can twist and turn around so we can oppose it?”
I want to give some credit to a couple of members and they might go into apoplectic shock. I heard speeches earlier today from two members of the Reform Party, the member for Esquimalt—Juan de Fuca and the member for Souris—Moose Mountain. Both gentlemen gave thoughtful, reasoned, intelligent remarks, something I am not used to hearing from the Reform Party. I was quite amazed. I will give credit where credit is due.
However, the comments do not seem to match other comments made by the leader of the Reform Party at a fundraiser in Calgary. Let me share those with the House because they are somewhat confusing and somewhat contradictory to the remarks made by the two members I just referred to.
The leader of the Reform Party said: “We want to wait until all the final offers are on the table. Our aim is to get the best deal for the air travelling public”. I would have thought the Minister of Transport had said that. I would not have thought the Leader of the Opposition actually came up with something that seems to be a rational policy. He said: “Whichever deal is accepted we want a free enterprise market to deal with this. That could involve the government encouraging greater foreign and regional competition”. What does he mean?
I would suggest that he wants the skies of Canada to be opened up to the extent that foreign airlines, be it American, be it United, be it whatever, can come into Canada and transport passengers between Winnipeg and Toronto, between Montreal and Vancouver, while ignoring all of the very difficult routes. They would simply cherry pick the best routes so those foreign carriers can make a profit on the best, easiest, most economical and efficient routes in Canada. They would be sucking the lifeblood out of whatever airline becomes the dominant Canadian airline. Let me stress clearly that is what is going to happen in my view.
Whether the shareholders vote to accept either the Onex deal that is on the table now or some other deal that is put forward, and I guess it has to happen soon, or whether they decide to accept the offer put on the table for Air Canada, there are pros and cons to both sides of those issues. But in my view there will only be one major airline by this time next year. It will be running the major routes in this country.
Are we going to do what the Leader of the Opposition has suggested and allow foreign airlines to come in and destroy that company? That could happen.
The minister has stood in his place and has said he will not change the foreign content issue. Foreign ownership of Air Canada will not increase beyond 25%. He has said that.
I could not believe it so I had to verify it in Hansard but I heard the Reform Party critic ask the minister why he would not even consider allowing foreign ownership content to increase to 49%.
Just as there is a hidden agenda by the Bloc, members of the Reform Party seem to be driven and motivated by a need to Americanize this country. They do it all the time. They stand and say “Do it the way they do it in the United States. They do it better”. They confuse issues.
The minister is consulting. He wants to hear the views of all parliamentarians and all Canadians. I have great confidence that he will make the right decision.