Madam Speaker, I appreciate the intervention. There are going to be two ombudsmen. One is the Canadian Transportation Agency's complaints commissioner. That is a unique position because he has the power to demand documents, demand testimony and hear witnesses. It is almost a quasi-judicial body. He has the power to get the information which is probably more than most ombudsmen have. He also has the power to make his reports public. He will report to parliament through the minister and he also has the ability to go public.
In this case the airlines are consumer driven companies. Bad PR from an ombudsman is not something they will want to get. If the ombudsman is successful and effective and he makes a report in the media that an airline is not doing something right, I am of the opinion the airline will act very fast to correct it.
Air Canada announced last week that it is going to establish its own ombudsman. I believe it is going to try to intervene even before consumers get to the official government complaints commissioner. It is going to try to get the complaints first so it can deal with them. I am confident that one or other of those programs is going to work.
I believe we are going to see more innovation than ever. The best example is WestJet, one of the newcomers to the industry. WestJet has an innovative pay plan. It has innovative policies as far as its employees are concerned. It has a uniform airplane plan which is simple but really works. This makes WestJet one of the most profitable airlines in North America based on its capacity.
Instead of having two giant airlines that are struggling, we are going to have many smaller airlines doing exactly what the member is asking about. They will be using their entrepreneurial instincts to innovate, to come up with new ideas and ways to get a market share from the dominant carrier. We are going to see a lot more innovation than we ever did before. I am optimistic that the small companies and entrepreneurs are going to come alive under this umbrella.