Madam Chairman, we have heard from a myriad of individuals speaking about security issues and about the best way to approach the issue from an economic perspective. What I would like to concentrate most of my time on are the workers themselves, those individuals who are going through a very uneasy time at home.
I am speaking to this from the perspective that my riding of Fundy--Royal will be heavily affected. Members may be aware that the principal reservation system evolves out of the call centre facility in Saint John and essentially half of those workers reside in the riding of Fundy--Royal.
I am very appreciative of the comments that I have heard from many constituents. The management of the call centre were also very concerned with the issue, as was the vice-president of the Atlantic CAW for local 2213. These people helped to shape the remarks that I will be making.
Let us first admit that the grand experiment by the Government of Canada failed. It tried to have a private sector company work in the environment of a regulatory regime as if it had a function as a crown corporation. We understand as a point of fact that particular case did not work.
What the Progressive Conservative/Democratic Representative Coalition is advocating is that we need to look at the issue from a holistic perspective in terms of how we approach this. We must admit that in the coming days, weeks and months the airline industry that we presently have will need to be reshaped and reformed.
When we look at the ideology that may be advanced by members of the Canadian Alliance, they may not subscribe to one perspective. I would like to compliment our transport critic from Vancouver in that regard. We need to recognize that a lot of the revenues from Air Canada happen from international flights. If the Americans help their carriers compete with Air Canada which may not have governmental intervention, then that would unfairly penalize Canadian companies in their capacity to compete. There are legitimate reasons for us to look at that.
Many Canadians are also concerned about just giving money to Air Canada in the form of a blank cheque. They are concerned that Air Canada may actually use the cash to set up a discount airline. It might have been a good idea but are we going to use taxpayers dollars to compete with a private sector venture like WestJet or Canada 3000? Those are things that should raise legitimate concerns.
In my view, there are other methods the Government of Canada should engage. If it does engage in that regard it must do it with respect to what I would see as a logical thing in terms of a severance perspective. It could use the cash to ensure that the employee ratio that Air Canada has per flight compared to maybe a WestJet flight is addressed.
We still need to recognize the fact that although we do have more competition, Air Canada is still part of Canada's national transportation infrastructure. We have to ensure that we do have a competitive national airline but not to the detriment of private sector competition.
I would also like to highlight another issue, which is clearly a solution the Government of Canada has to look at and which we have been raising in question period. If we want an infusion of cash, if we are really serious about having liquidity in terms of actually helping the private sector lift this industry, we clearly have to drop the 15% stock share issue and also the 25% foreign ownership issue. Those issues have to be raised as well.
In conclusion, Madam Chairman, I want to thank you for the opportunity to participate in the debate. My first priority is the workers affected by this issue. I want to stand with the workers as they go through this transition. I want to thank my constituents who have helped me shape my debate this evening.