Debates of April 29th, 2009

[Ted Menzies, Conservative, Macleod, AB]

Mr. Speaker, we are committed to treating all provinces equally, and we have demonstrated that. In fact, federal support to the provinces and territories is at an all-time high.

The larger issue is that Newfoundland and Labrador is no longer an equalization receiving province. It is now proudly a have province. The province is one of the strong economic engines we need to keep Canada strong and we should be celebrating that. To quote Premier Danny Williams, “It's a tremendous sense of relief and gratification that we've worked so hard in Newfoundland and Labrador”. He went on to say that that percolated throughout everybody in his province who can sit at home and say to themselves that they were no longer a have-not and that was huge.

[Jim Maloway, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, some time ago I asked the government, particularly the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities, a question regarding the plans of Ryanair to charge people for using the bathrooms aboard their airplanes.

I would have expected the member to provide a serious answer to the question, but, in fact, he did not. I would have expected that his answer, an obvious one, would have been that he could change the air regulations governing carriers in Canada to ban the practice of charging to use the washroom for Ryanair flights, or any other airline flights, flying in and out of Canada. To me, that would have been an obvious answer to my question. Instead, he did not answer the question and I had to come through this process to get further answers from the government.

The government should be proactive in this case. The government is very interested to make certain the industry is efficient and does not waste money, but I do not think we should put this airline through the big expense of asking, which it has done, Boeing to create pay-for-use toilets for its planes and then at the end of the day, closing the door on it charging in Canada.

The message should be brought out very early in the process. Ryanair and other airlines should be told that this sort of practice will not be tolerated in Canada, rather than allow the airline to go to quite a big expense to get Boeing to reconfigure their planes.

To demonstrate to the government that this company is serious, I have responses on this issue from a lot of people. I certainly could not begin to read the responses, but I can assure members, they are all very negative.

The Ryanair people have indicated that this is no big deal. Passengers using train and bus stations are already accustomed to paying to use the toilets, so why not on airplanes? That is their rationale. This airline has made its whole reputation out of charging for all sorts of extra things such as baggage. Almost everything we could imagine that is charged for on planes today, Ryanair started.

Tommy Broughan, who is the transport spokesman for Ireland's Labour Party, said that the toilet charge idea had to be taken seriously. People on the other side of the Atlantic are taking this issue very seriously, and the government has to pay some attention to that.

Furthermore, the president of Ryanair, Mr. O'Leary, justified the proposed scheme, saying that the 33 million pounds could lead to fare savings and would keep people from annoying other passengers with unnecessary toilet trips. His theory is that people will go to the washroom before they get on the plane. If they have to go while they are on the plane, they will hold it until they get off the plane. It will make the flight a little easier because people will not make unnecessary trips. However, he still figures he will get 33 million pounds. He says, “Eventually it is going to happen. It is just we can't do it at the moment because we don't have the mechanism for charging you”, which is why he has asked Boeing to come up with a card reader.

My question to the minister at the time was this. What are people without credit cards supposed to do?

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport]

Mr. Speaker, that is a an important one. I think consumers in Canada are very interested in whether they would have to pay to use the washroom at some time in the future. At this stage, it would be a question that would be answered by the airline itself. I fly almost every week out of my constituencies in northern Alberta and I can assure members that I would not fly on an airline that charged to use the washroom.

Our government also has some concerns with the bill the member has brought forward. Bill C-310 is part of the promotional activity that brings about this question. In fact, we spoke to members of the opposition at second reading a few weeks ago.

The government has stood up for consumers over the past three years. We are trying to stand up for consumers, while at the same time not impeding economic growth, which is so important for our country. Right now, there is a tremendous amount of job loss in the world. Although somewhat better off than any other country in the world, Canada will not be insulated from the fact that we will have some job losses. As such, we want to ensure we continue to promote economic growth.

Our economic action plan has outlined a very ambitious plan to stimulate the economy through targeted investments in infrastructure, industry and tax credits. We are getting the job done and protecting consumers at the same time. We want to ensure that the families, mothers and fathers continue to have jobs and continue to have the great quality of life that they have come to expect from a Canadian economy.

Our government has also met with consumer associations, industry representatives and airlines in relation to the member's proposed bill. There are a lot of issues with the bill and we want to ensure we balance them. On one side, we want to ensure consumers and people who use planes throughout the country have the rights they need in order to encourage them to fly. Flying creates economic growth as well. At the same time, we need to ensure those airlines continue to operate effectively in Canada, with a Canadian logo and flag on their aircraft.

From my consultations, even with the members opposite, I can honestly say there is a sincere interest from all sides of the House, especially from the government side, to improve the protection of the travelling public. However, as I mentioned, we cannot turn a blind eye to the economic realities facing the airline industry at this moment. From your knowledge of the industry, Mr. Speaker, as well as from the knowledge of the members opposite, we know the airline industry is going through somewhat of a change at this stage. Indeed, the industry around the world is going through somewhat of a change.

The global economic downturn has had a serious impact on both business and recreational travel. We have heard from stakeholders involved. They have said that this would be the worst possible time to introduce punitive measures into the industry. We are going to use a balanced approach to deal with this matter. We want to focus on creating jobs, not cutting jobs, as the member is proposing. We are going to support Canadian families.

How many times has the member opposite been on a plane that charged to use the washroom? Even though I fly many times a week, I had never heard of such a thing before he raised the question. Could he answer that for me?

[Jim Maloway, NDP, Elmwood—Transcona, MB]

Mr. Speaker, I am trying to ask the questions here and I am not getting any answers. We are here this evening to try to get some response from the government.

The answer is really simple. All the government has to do is take the sensible approach and have the minister change the regulations to ban the practice before the airlines start to do it. What is he going to do? Is he going to wait until they start charging and then ban it after they have gone to all the extra expense? That makes no sense at all.

This issue has absolutely nothing to do with Bill C-310, the airline passenger bill of rights. It is not dealing with the washroom issue. That is a different bill and a different set of issues. We will be dealing with that in our second hour of debate next Thursday and with a vote the following week. He can make up his mind then as to whether he will vote in favour or against it.

We are dealing with an issue that will cause a big problem for a lot of air—

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The hon. Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities.

[Brian Jean, Conservative, Fort McMurray—Athabasca, AB]

Mr. Speaker, I understand the member wants the government to address a problem that currently does not exist. However, we have a lot of issues with which we want to deal.

Our main issue right now on the government side is to create jobs, protect Canadian families, ensure there is food on the table and jobs for Canadians so they can continue to enjoy their quality of life. Although we understand what the member has said, he could not answer the question of whether he had been on or had seen a plane that had this situation.

However, I am happy to report that even as recently as this week, some airlines, such as WestJet, stationed in Calgary, have introduced their own policies to ensure good customer services and improved customer services. These are some of the best customer services in the world.

I hope I can work with the members opposite, including that member, to improve customer relations in all sectors of the economy, to keep the Canadian economy strong and keep jobs in Canada.

[The Deputy Speaker, Conservative, Andrew Scheer]

The motion to adjourn the House is now deemed to have been adopted. Accordingly the House stands adjourned until tomorrow at 10 a.m. pursuant to Standing Order 24(1).

(The House adjourned at 7:24 p.m.)