Mr. Chair, in speaking to the importance of the airlines, I have already mentioned the number of flights Air Canada has per day, including its affiliation with Air Canada Express. As well, we can draw from different examples around the world.
In October of this past year there was a grounding of the Qantas fleet in Australia. The Australian government referred the matter to its Fair Work Australia board, which is much like our CIRB. It found in that case, in a geography that is very similar to ours, the size of an airline that is very similar to ours, in a hub system that is very similar to ours, the impact on tourism was such that it was of economic significance. It did order the airline to commence operations again and stop the industrial action that was happening with respect to strikes by pilots and the shutting down of the airline by the airline itself.
It was a very similar situation to what we have here today with a work stoppage being threatened by both a lockout by management and a strike by employees. We take the matter seriously and that is why we are moving on it.