moved that Bill C-38, an act to amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act, be read the second time and referred to a committee.
Mr. Speaker, it is a pleasure to rise to speak to Bill C-38 this afternoon to try to get the sense of the House on furthering the improvement of airlines in Canada. This is a very short bill and it has one purpose: to amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act to eliminate the 15% limit on ownership of voting shares in Air Canada by any one person. I hope there will be speedy passage of the bill.
As most people know because we have been engaged in the airline file for a number of years Air Canada took on Canadian Airlines a couple of years ago. Over the last couple of years it has done a remarkably good job of merging the two airlines together.
There have been problems, not all of them of Air Canada's making. Some had to do with bad weather in the summer of 2000. Others had to do with the increase in air traffic when the economy was doing well. There was also an inability to merge the workforces on time.
All these things came together to create a situation that combined with high fuel prices and a declining economy in the last year caused problems for Air Canada before the events of September 11. Air Canada had publicly stated its need to get its house in order to attain more equity before September 11. The events of September 11 have compounded the problem and there is no question that Air Canada, as other airlines, requires a new infusion of equity.
Because of the constraints parliament imposed when Air Canada was privatized, it was impossible for the normal kinds of investment to occur in Air Canada that occur in other public corporations in the country. Investors who wanted a say in the direction of the company were stymied because of the legislation and the restriction on voting shares.
If we are asking the House to eliminate the limit on individual ownership it would be useful to give a bit of the history as to why the limit was imposed in the first place.
Air Canada was privatized in 1988 and 1989 under the enabling legislation which is before us and which would be amended by this bill. At the time the act contained a section that limited individual ownership of voting shares to 10%. The justification for the 10% limit was to ensure that voting shares would be as widely held as possible by Canadians.
Most people do not realize that the 10% limit was accompanied by a prohibition on association between persons who hold voting shares. This was designed to ensure these persons could not act together and take control thereby nullifying the concept of a widely held company. At the time no one thought much about that and the bill was passed. The 10% restriction remained in place until the year 2000 when we raised it to 15% by way of Bill C-26.
Members may remember that leading up to that bill there was an initiative by the government in the fall of 1999 to find a private sector solution to the woes that were bedeviling Canadian airlines. As a result of actions we took we precipitated a private sector solution. Two offers were before Air Canada at the time. One was from Onex Corporation. The other was a proposal that originated with the management of Air Canada.
I will not go into all the details, but people know that Onex withdrew and subsequently Air Canada's management made good on its promise to take over Canadian Airlines subject to certain restrictions. At the time in December 1999 there were intense negotiations between the government and Air Canada because with the demise of Canadian Airlines there would be one large carrier with 82% of the capacity in the country.
As a result of those negotiations, Air Canada decided on certain guarantees with respect to no involuntary layoffs and service to small communities. It has made good on its promises. I emphasize that during those discussions at any time the Air Canada board of directors was free to walk away from that initiative. It made a conscientious business decision which it had to live with in good times and in bad.
Of course the times right now are not as good. That is why the original objection by Air Canada management to changing the 10% and having single shareholders potentially own the company has changed. It has publicly stated its willingness to agree to this kind of a change. It is in agreement with it. Therefore I cannot see any great controversy.
The decision to move to the 15% limit was one we felt was at least in keeping with other crown corporations such as Canadian National Railways. We cannot take that particular comparison too far because the ownership limits on former crown corporations have been tailored to the specific industry sector. CN and Petro-Canada for example have a 15% limit but no limits on non-residents. Nordion for example has no individual share ownership limits except for the 25% for non-residents. Major Canadian banks will allow 20% but there is a fitness test. What we are proposing for Air Canada is appropriate to the Canadian air services sector at this time in our history.
As I said there has been some degree of support for this from Air Canada. In coming to the decision to remove the limit, I have been told by a number of people that any limit in the past has been a disincentive to an investor with serious intentions when investing to have a say in the company. That is why we have decided to re-examine the entire operation and to ensure that there is an equity infusion into Air Canada.
We have been fully engaged with all of the airlines since September 11 to look at their finances and ascertain their financial health. Obviously they have been adversely affected, as have airlines around the world. What we see in Canada is not unique to us; it is something that is being played out elsewhere.
We know what the United States government has done in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks. It came forward with a $15 billion package for the airlines, $5 billion for immediate compensation, $10 billion for loan guarantees. There was another $3 billion included in the $40 billion appropriations bill for reconstruction specifically for security measures. As I have said publicly, we are examining the efficacy of the Government of Canada taking on more of those security costs.
We have watched with some concern as airlines have faced difficulty. They have all reduced capacity and made many adjustments.
Just last week I announced a loan guarantee package for Canada 3000. That airline met certain objectives such as equity infusion by investors, reduction in capacity, the paring of workforces and most important, a business plan that would restore Canada 3000 to profitability.
What I said publicly last Thursday night is that kind of program will be available for the five principal airlines in the country that cover 95% of the market. I realize from questions in question period there are other smaller carriers that would like to avail themselves of a similar loan guarantee program, but they were covered in the initial compensation program. They were covered, as were all the airlines and airports, by our agreement to pick up the war risk liability for 90 days, the third party liability that was terminated by insurance companies which affected not only Canada's air industry but air industries around the world. We did this for the air carriers, the airports and Nav Canada. Everyone has benefited.
One has to draw the line somewhere in how far one goes in terms of loan guarantees. That is why we have said the five largest carriers that cover 95% of the market that are national in scope, they being Air Canada, Air Transat, Canada 3000, WestJet and Sky Service, would be eligible for the loan guarantee initiative. I am not sure that all of them will require it.
There is no question that air traffic has come back to some degree in the last number of weeks. It is gradually coming back to approximate pre-September 11 levels. However, that is not the case certainly on transborder traffic where there is still a significant reduction as compared to the period prior to September 11.
In looking at Air Canada in particular, we have said that perhaps by eliminating the single ownership limit the company would become more attractive to investors. It would allow more of an infusion of equity. It certainly would facilitate with the overall restructuring of the company.
We come with the message that we are preoccupied with the health of the transportation sector in general, but in particular the airline industry. We have made a number of changes to security regulations and safety regulations on board aircraft with the locking of cockpit doors and the strengthening of cockpit doors. In fact last Friday after I boarded the plane and before it left the gate, I was asked by an Air Canada pilot to see the new measures that had been put in place. I was quite impressed with how quickly that had been done and it had been done with the co-operation of Transport Canada. This is being done not only here but in the U.S. and elsewhere around the world. We are facilitating extra security on planes with the new regulations.
I hear my friend from the Alliance who is preoccupied with Americana and wants the provision of armed security personnel to be blanketed on Canadian aircraft. We have said yes for those flights to Reagan national airport, specifically because the American government has said that is a condition for Air Canada to go back to that airport. I think everyone in the House understands that. Anyone who has flown into that airport knows its proximity to the downtown core. It is not just any downtown core; it has the seat of government of one of the largest nations, arguably the most powerful nation in the world. Obviously there have to be some extra security provisions. We have agreed to that because Air Canada is unique on the open skies treaty in being able to use that airport. We did not want to inhibit Air Canada in any way, so we have agreed that the RCMP, Canada's national police, will be on those flights. I have said that we would consider it elsewhere.
However, our preoccupation has been to ensure that airport security be made more stringent and that those rules be put in place quickly and be enforced. Yes, there is some inconsistency across the country, but we are getting to that. We are dealing with that through inspections.
I was on the CBC town hall meeting last night. The Leader of the Opposition was on the panel. I was very happy when he agreed that the security regime has improved and that lineups at airports are diminishing as people get through the new rules.
Of course the one disagreement, in terms of substance, was the question of whether the government should go along with armed security personnel. As I have said publicly, we have that under advisement.
We have done much to help the airline industry and the airports. There are new regulations, new security regulations. I have no doubt that the security regime at Canadian airports, in the skies generally, and in other parts of the world is much better than it was before. I thought it was good before September 11 but it is much more stringent now. Canadians should feel very comfortable in flying. Indeed gradually people are going back. Even business class passengers who stayed away in droves following September 11 are starting to travel again, even some of them to the United States.
Our decision to amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act at this time is to provide another kind of assistance to Canada's largest carrier in its attempts to return to financial stability.
Air Canada is the world's 11th largest airline. It is an airline of which we can be proud. It has not been easy for Air Canada in the last couple of years with some of the problems that it has undergone. However, the quality of the professionals that work at Air Canada both in the air and on the ground is unparalleled. The quality of service we get on Air Canada is among the best in the world. It has been adjudged as such by international bodies.
We have an airline of which we can be proud. It is an airline that is having some problems, but it is an airline which I think has the ability to get over those problems. It is incumbent upon us as politicians and upon the House in general to facilitate solutions, certainly private sector solutions, on the part of our airlines, particularly Air Canada.
I am confident that if we enact the bill it will provide the private sector greater opportunities for investing in Air Canada which will contribute to a successful restructuring of the company. With the enactment of the bill, Air Canada will find itself on the same footing as all of the other airlines. No one else has a single ownership limit. We are not at this time proposing to raise the 25% foreign ownership limit. We do not think that is necessary. We are being consistent with many other countries around the world, including the United States, which keep that 25% limit. They believe inherently that an industry so fundamental to the economy, the fibre and the being of the country should indeed not only be operated by Canadians but controlled in effect by Canadians. If we need to change that we would not need legislation because current legislation allows that change to occur, at least the raising of the limit from 25% to 49%, by order in council. However we do not think that would be necessary.
We believe that the passage of the bill would be timely. It would give Air Canada the investment. As I said before, it is a very simple bill. It has three sections. The first removes the 15% limit and the prohibition on association. The second renders as null and void any other corporate documents that address the 15% limit. The third deals with when the changes will come into force.
I would hope that my colleagues would agree that this is just another step in the government's response and parliament's response to the tragic events of September 11. But in particular, it is also a response to the ongoing restructuring and realignment of the Canadian air industry which predated September 11. I hope that my colleagues would ensure speedy passage of the bill. Certainly at committee if there are any detailed questions members would like to ask, I am fully prepared to be there with my officials.
This is a bill that is in the national interests. It is certainly in the interests of airline passengers and all of those who believe that our national air carrier, Air Canada, should continue to be the great carrier that it is.
