Mr. Speaker, I am speaking from the traditional territory of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation and the Ta’an Kwäch’än Council.
I stand in the House today to speak about the work our government is doing to enable a safe restart of the aviation sector and the work it has done to put in place strong public health measures within the sector to address the risks posed by COVID-19. I think what I say will answer some of the questions that were just provided.
I can assure colleagues that since the earliest days of the pandemic, our government has been dedicated in working with our vital transportation industry to introduce a comprehensive, layered system of measures and guidance to protect Canadians and those working in the transportation and shipping sectors. For the air sector specifically, this layered approach includes health screening measures and temperature checks to prevent symptomatic passengers from boarding flights to, from and within Canada. This approach also includes requiring passengers on all flights departing from or arriving at Canadian airports to have an appropriate mask or face covering throughout their journey. Canada was the first country to require such a measure, which we now see is standard practice globally.
In addition to ensuring that we had the right public health and border resources meeting those passengers arriving in Canada during the earliest days of the pandemic, our government issued a notice restricting most overseas flights to four airports in Canada: Montreal, Toronto, Calgary and Vancouver.
To summarize these measures and the many more our government and industry were implementing to assist in mitigating COVID risks in the aviation industry, in August our government released “Canada’s Flight Plan for Navigating COVID-19”. The document was the foundation for aligning Canada’s efforts to address the safety impacts of COVID-19 and was developed in collaboration with industry partners. It demonstrated to Canadians the extensive and multi-layered system of measures we had put in place and was based on the comprehensive standards and recommendations from the International Civil Aviation Organization’s council aviation recovery task force report, the CART, and its guidance, in order to ensure Canada is aligned with the gold standard of international best practices.
More recently, in an effort to further curb the spread of the virus and new variants of COVID-19 into Canada, we added new rules on international travel. Under these new rules, all air travellers must also provide proof of a negative COVID-19 molecular test before boarding an international flight to Canada. Upon arrival, these passengers must take another COVID-19 molecular test and reserve a room in a Government of Canada-approved hotel for three nights, also at their own expense, while awaiting the test results. We are working hard to make improvements to ensure that this system is working effectively.
Our government also recognized that it was not the time to travel as Canada’s public health officials worked to stem the increase in infections and began to roll out the largest immunization campaign in Canada’s history. That is why, in addition to these measures, the government and Canada’s airlines agreed to suspend all flights to and from Mexico and Caribbean countries until April 30 of this year.
Our government realized that the pandemic was also disproportionately affecting the aviation industry, including those in remote and northern communities like mine that depend so much on small air carriers for essential services. That is why the government announced funding of up to $191.3 million for provinces and territories to ensure that remote fly-in communities continue to receive essential supplies. This includes the northern essential air services subsidy that has been in place for much of the pandemic.
To help mitigate the decline in business at Canada's airports, the government also provided rent relief for the 21 airport authorities that have ground leases with the federal government. Moreover, through the fall economic statement, an additional $1.1 billion in financial support for the air sector was announced. This will be provided through a series of targeted measures designed to support regional connectivity, critical infrastructure investments and the continued operation of Canada’s airports.
Air transport stakeholders have also benefited from relief programs that are general in nature, such as the Canada emergency wage subsidy and the large employer emergency financing facility.
As we look to the future, we know that a strong and competitive air industry is vital for Canada's economic recovery.
Now I just want to digress for a moment as a northern MP. Coming from the north, in my personal opinion, there are two things that mainline carriers can do to help themselves during this pandemic, over and above all this other support. They must provide reasonable interline agreements with northern and regional airlines, with end-to-end airfares for those regional airlines. This would help both the major and the regional airline. The major airline could pick up remote passengers to add to their system, and they would not have to lose money by running partially filled flights where the other airline exists.
The northern and regional airlines would get seamless baggage transfers, protected connections and throughfare itineraries around the world, so it is a win-win situation for everyone. Why would anyone want two airlines, a major and a regional one, to lose money by running half-empty planes at the same time on the same route, costing the taxpayers even more subsidy?
This is just my personal view, but this is a better option than requiring capacity reduction in the markets where there are thin numbers of airline customers during this pandemic.
While preventing the spread of the pandemic will continue to remain the top priority of our government, we are looking to prepare for the restart of the air sector. Our government is working with industry to explore risk-based opportunities that will allow Canada to ease travel restrictions and reopen our borders when the time is right to travel, a time that we can begin to see is on the horizon.
Many of the measures I have outlined here, including testing, health screening, masks and quarantine, will likely remain in place for the near future. However, there may be room in the coming weeks and months for adjustments to support the aviation system and Canada's recovery from this pandemic, again when the time is right. This includes implementing a sustainable approach to reducing public health risks today and building resilience to safeguard the system against similar risks in the future. An example would be leveraging opportunities for safe contactless processing of passengers. These approaches will help rebuild public confidence in the safety of air travel.
As we eventually move from response to recovery, we will continue to have the latest in science and data drive the decisions that we make. Public health measures that mitigate risks posed by COVID-19 will remain a priority, and our government is committed to implementing and revising existing measures, when we are able, to allow the recovery of our vital aviation sector. We will continue to work closely with the aviation industry to do this, as we have done since the beginning of the pandemic.
I congratulate all those who have spoken today who understand the uncertainty that scientists have about the various waves and the transmission of the pandemic, but we will base our decisions on what they come up with as things evolve.