Madam Speaker, I am honoured to speak today on behalf of the Minister of Transport and the government.
I am interested in this issue because, of course, I have been a member of the Standing Committee on Transport since my arrival in the House. I am also interested in it because many Air Canada employees live in my riding. There are easily three families, at least one member of whom works for this airline, in my little neighbourhood.
Obviously, Bill C-47 seeks to amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act. These amendments will update the legislation to respond to Air Canada's new corporate structure, and will contribute to the February 2, 2004, Speech from the Throne commitment to nurture Canada's linguistic duality.
The Government of Canada was reassured to see Air Canada successfully emerge from bankruptcy protection on September 30, 2004. Over a period of 18 months, Air Canada, with the dedication and cooperation of its unions, suppliers and other key stakeholders, made significant progress in finding a private sector solution to restructure its operations and reduce the cost gap vis-à-vis low-cost carriers.
The Government of Canada recognizes that significant changes have taken place in the airline industry over the past few years. In view of changes in the marketplace, and in timely response to issues faced by Air Canada during its restructuring, the Government of Canada has moved ahead on many fronts to support both a successful Air Canada going forward, and a competitive Canadian air industry in a global market.
In the face of this new competitive environment, we have given serious consideration to the continued need for past measures.
Today, I wish to recall for the House the history behind the Air Canada Public Participation Act, and the continued relevance and importance of this legislation. Specifically, I will speak to the continued importance of the protection of official languages to the social fabric of Canada.
Second, I will recount the history of Air Canada, Canada's national airline, and its continued commitment to the provision of service to Canadians in both official languages.
Lastly, I will speak to specific aspects of the proposed bill before us.
The emblem of the Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages depicts Canada's linguistic duality as a fabric woven of many threads. Those of us who speak English and those of us who speak French, ourselves made up of many different elements, have joined together to weave a social fabric called Canada.
Canada's linguistic duality has been a defining feature of our nation since Confederation. In recognition of this shared national heritage, in 1969, the Government of Canada adopted the Official Languages Act, which provided formal mechanisms to ensure the protection of both English and French language rights, nationally.
Canada's commitment to the formal recognition of both English and French was reaffirmed in 1982, with the entrenchment of the right to linguistic equality in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.
I would also note that, in recognition of the desire of consumers for service in the official language of their choice, Canadian air carriers are choosing to provide services to the public in both French and English.
As we know, Air Canada was established by Parliament in April 1937 as the national airline to provide essential air transportation, cargo and mail services across Canada. As a crown corporation, Air Canada has been subject to the Official Languages Act since that legislation came into effect in 1969.
In 1988, under the Conservative government of the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, then Prime Minister of Canada, Air Canada was privatized under the authority of the Air Canada Public Participation Act, which authorized the sale of the Government of Canada's shareholdings in the air carrier.
At that time, the Conservative government imposed official language obligations on Air Canada through the Air Canada Public Participation Act in recognition of the importance of preserving language rights for the travelling public and Air Canada employees, and as a result of the carrier's history as a federal crown corporation.
Responding to Canadians in 2000, the Government of Canada amended the act when Air Canada acquired Canadian Airlines to include an obligation on Air Canada to ensure that its subsidiaries provided air services to the public in both official languages.
Today, due to Air Canada's restructuring and its new corporate structure as of October 1, 2004, without government action Canadians and Air Canada employees will face a situation where the Air Canada Public Participation Act applies to a reduced Air Canada in terms of both operations and number of employees.
While the Air Canada Public Participation Act continues to apply to Air Canada mainline, the principal air carrier, its obligations and those of the Official Languages Act no longer apply to the operations that have been moved out from under Air Canada and are now affiliates of Air Canada.
This includes Jazz Air Limited Partnership—the regional air carrier serving many designated francophone communities throughout Canada. Jazz was formerly a subsidiary of Air Canada, and, as such, Air Canada was obligated to ensure that Jazz provided service to the public in both official languages. Today, Jazz Air Limited Partnership is a limited partnership controlled by ACE Aviation Holdings Incorporated, the newly created parent company of Air Canada. Under this new corporate structure, Jazz has no official language obligations.
Furthermore, ACE Aviation Holdings Incorporated, the parent company that controls directly and indirectly all the entities within the new corporate structure of Air Canada, is not covered by language obligations or a requirement related to its head office location.
On several occasions, Air Canada has publicly stated that it is committed to providing service to the public in both official languages regardless of the law, as it is in its best interests to serve the public in the language of its choice. The Government of Canada acknowledges and applauds Air Canada's commitment to Canadians. Through this bill, the Government of Canada will ensure that Air Canada fulfills this commitment.
While Air Canada is the only air carrier in Canada subject to the Official Languages Act, I would like to point out that other Canadian air carriers recognize the importance of serving the public in both official languages. As other carriers recognize the business advantage of offering bilingual services, the cost differential between Air Canada and other Canadian air carriers for the provision of these services is diminishing.
Notwithstanding the fine example that Air Canada has and will continue to set in provision of service to Canadians in both official languages in the Canadian air industry, Air Canada has not provided the Government of Canada with the same assurance that it will continue to uphold the official obligations of language of work. It is also unclear whether the commitment by Air Canada is intended to cover entities in the new corporate structure other than Air Canada.
On October 5, 2004, in his address in reply to the Speech from the Throne, the Prime Minister stated that we as Canadians must be vigilant to prevent the erosion of our linguistic duality. The Government of Canada believes that monitoring and enforcement of Air Canada's commitment to official languages is necessary. Through this bill we are following through on the Prime Minister's commitment to Canadians of that vigilance.
On October 19, 2004, the Commissioner of Official Languages tabled her fifth annual report which recommended:
Transport Canada propose the adoption of the necessary legal amendments to preserve and protect the language rights of the public and Air Canada's employees, regardless of the modifications that are made to the structure and organization of the air transportation industry.
Through this bill Transport Canada is responding to that recommendation.
As hon. members may recall, the implications of Air Canada's restructuring became an issue during the federal election campaign. At that time, in response to Canadians, the Prime Minister made a public commitment that there would be no erosion in the application of the Air Canada Public Participation Act, and specifically the official languages obligations.
This issue has been raised on several occasions since then, and the Minister of Transport has publicly reiterated the Government of Canada's commitment to introduce legislation to ensure the status quo—no more, no less—on Air Canada. Today, through this bill, the Government of Canada is following through on this important commitment.
I would now like to share with the House the specific aspects of this bill that will achieve our objectives to ensure the continued protection of the official languages and maintain the status quo under the Air Canada Public Participation Act.
In order to preserve the status quo, this bill will ensure that full official language obligations would continue to be applied to Air Canada and would be retained for the former internal divisions of Air Canada that have been spun off and that are federally regulated undertakings.
In addition, Jazz Air Limited Partnership would be made subject to part IV—service to the public—of the Official Languages Act. As I have already noted, prior to restructuring, Air Canada was required to ensure that its subsidiaries providing air services offered services in both official languages.
However, as Jazz is now an affiliate of Air Canada, and not a subsidiary, the former obligation will now be placed directly on Jazz. Jazz will also be subject to parts VIII, IX and X—the enforcement mechanisms and policies—of the Official Languages Act. This ensures continued compliance with official languages obligations, a responsibility for which Air Canada was directly answerable previously.
The bill would require ACE Aviation Holdings Incorporated, the holding company, to provide communications to the public in both official languages and to keep its head office in Montreal. This would ensure that obligations consistent with those applied to Air Canada, as head body of the corporation, are extended to the new parent company owning and controlling, either directly or indirectly, all of the affiliates within the new structure.
As well, in order to maintain the status quo, any future airline subsidiaries established in Canada by ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. or Air Canada would be required to provide service to the public in both official languages. To ensure that these proposed amendments do not extend beyond the status quo, the following qualifications are included within the provision.
First, the language obligations would only apply to affiliates of Air Canada that ACE Aviation Holdings Inc. controls. Once control is lost through an outright sale or through the sale of a controlling interest, these obligations would cease. In addition, language requirements would not be extended to a future airline affiliate that provides air services exclusively outside of Canada. This ensures that Canada's air liberalization agenda does not adversely affect the ability of Air Canada to compete in foreign markets.
In conclusion, the adoption of the bill will respond to the Government of Canada's commitment to Canadians for the continued protection of Canada's linguistic duality and will update the legislation to respond to Air Canada's new corporate structure.