Transport committee  I would take a look at Nav Canada's press release from May. They did state in there that they had engaged the government to try to get support so that they would not have to follow through with the increase in navigational fees, and the government said no to that request.

Transport committee  To be mildly direct, I think within the context of Ottawa's debate, the fee and the tax are two different things, but has it increased the cost of aviation and flying in Canada? Yes, it has. Whether you wish to call it a fee or a tax, to us in the industry it's somewhat immaterial.

Transport committee  We are starting to see the impacts now. It is unnerving for us from a commercial perspective, and it should be unnerving for us broadly from an economic recovery perspective as well. As I mentioned in my opening comments, we are seeing that foreign carriers have started to receive support from their governments, and they started to receive it around May and June.

Transport committee  Mr. Chair, I think that's to me. I haven't seen those same media reports. I know that the government has said, and repeated a couple of days ago, that it is beginning confidential conversations because of the nature of the discussions and the commercial activity that they'll have to get into.

Transport committee  Thank you for the question. It's nice to see you, too. I think there are a few elements to it. The general view was that LEEFF was never set up to deal with the challenge that we are facing in aviation, particularly large operators, given the sheer size of the companies. Sorry; I seem to be getting simultaneous interpretation in my earpiece here.

Transport committee  Okay, thank you. There were a couple of reasons to it. We didn't think that LEEFF was necessarily set up for large organizations. Of course, it is just for large employers. It has been stuck at stage zero on the economic recovery continuum since the beginning of the pandemic.

Transport committee  Thank you.

Transport committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair, and I will get this in at four minutes and 45 seconds. The National Airlines Council of Canada represents Canada's largest air carriers: Air Canada, Air Transat, Jazz Aviation, and WestJet. That represents approximately 90% of domestic capacity and about 60% of international capacity.

Finance committee  I fully understand the difficulty that everyone is experiencing as a result of the pandemic and what it's been doing to flights. The use of the vouchers is driven by the pandemic. We would not be following this approach if it were not for the economic chaos it has created. The Canadian Transportation Agency did issue guidance that, given the extraordinary circumstances, the use of vouchers was deemed acceptable.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. I'm cognizant of the time available, so I will try to be brief. The impact has been unprecedented. I know that's an adjective that has been used a heck of a lot over the past several weeks, but it has been unprecedented when you see the capacity that has been brought down and you see the service that has been cut.

Finance committee  In terms of what we would expect, I must say that it's very hard for me to answer the question. What has been transpiring over the past several weeks is that carriers have been making the government aware of the challenges they are facing. That information has been presented and the government is taking a look at that information.

Finance committee  You did a good job there of covering off the variety of approaches that are occurring. I am very hesitant to guess what the government's approach will be, and therefore, what terms and conditions may be attached to it. We simply do not know what that approach will be, the scope and scale of that approach.

Finance committee  Thank you for the question. It's a good question. In terms of the tools the federal government has at its disposal, we are not proposing one set approach to how the government deals with this. At a top level, basically we have two issues, as I said in my opening comments. We would like the government to come forth with the approach it plans to take.

Finance committee  As an airline, Mr. Chair, I'm trying to bring us in on time, but I'll slow it down.

Finance committee  We promote safe, sustainable and competitive air travel by advocating for the development of policies, regulations and legislation to foster a world-class transportation system. Collectively, our member airlines carry over 80 million passengers annually, directly employ over 60,000 people, and are a critical component of Canada's overall air transport and tourism sector, which supports more than 630,000 jobs.