Transport committee  Many of them, nearly half, were licence applications by airlines.

Transport committee  Yes, if you like.

Transport committee  It might seem to you that way. I am speaking from experience, however. I am simply saying that we are currently operating with five members and there are no delays. If there are delays, it has nothing to do with the members. We can do the work with five members.

Transport committee  Air travel complaints that used to be handled by the commissioner are dealt with informally. It is really the parties that influence how long it takes. We have performance standards for dealing with complaints. For example, when someone phones the call centre, the call is returned right away.

Transport committee  Mediation is a process that can be very short or very long. It depends on the parties. The maximum is 120 days for decisions made through the Agency's formal processes.

Transport committee  We do not have any statistics as such. In licence cases, in cases involving marine transportation under the Coasting Trade Act, it takes us between 7 and 10 days to make a decision. We can be very quick. But with more complicated cases, we need to get information and analyze it, which can take more time.

Transport committee  The members are involved in all cases at some stage since every case has to be signed off by an Agency member. The employees are there to handle the cases. They do the research and the analysis, and they recommend approaches and various alternatives to the members. There are a wide range of cases.

Transport committee  We have 260 employees.

Transport committee  We have 260 employees.

Transport committee  The minister decided to appoint a certain number of members in order to comply with the Official Languages Act.

Transport committee  Right now, for example, there is a bilingual member from Alberta, another one from Manitoba and myself. If the number of members is reduced to five, we need to take that aspect into account in order to be able to hold hearings in regions where cases are dealt with in French.

Transport committee  Our assessment is that we can do the work with five members. Each member's workload will be increased, but I do not believe that it will delay the handling of cases. It will not be easy; it will be a challenge. We will need to adapt, but the minister can also appoint three temporary members.

Transport committee  They could help if the workload increased and it became impossible to manage or if special expertise were required, for example, in dealing with a very technical case where none of the members— Right now, the work is being done by five members. One position is vacant and one member is on long-term sick leave.

Transport committee  As I said earlier, we deal with some 3,800 cases a year.

Transport committee  The five commissioners must sign any decision made by the Agency. Whether it is a written decision or the outcome of representations or hearings, the commissioners or members sign every decision made by the Agency. The Agency is able to fulfil its mandate with five full-time experienced members.