Official Languages committee  Our figures have not improved, especially at the airports, because no permanent employees have been hired at the airports since we merged with Canadian.

Official Languages committee  The percentage is exactly the same.

Official Languages committee  There is always a bilingual flight attendant on board our airplanes. On board the Jazz airplanes, where there is significant demand and the service is mandatory, that is also the case. They have trained quite a few because 57% of their flight attendants are bilingual. Safety is certainly the most important part of the training, both at Jazz and at Air Canada.

Official Languages committee  Yes. I must say we don't have that much of a problem in Quebec, New Brunswick, or Ontario. Toronto is a little different because we have problems finding bilingual candidates in Toronto. The problem is much bigger out west.

Official Languages committee  When people are bilingual, as flight attendants or as airport agents, they can usually bid on better positions. For us, and for anybody with languages, it makes it a better situation whether they are airport employees or flight attendants.

Official Languages committee  But when you visit the Air Canada website, you can see the more specific requirements for the position. That is where candidates are referred, to www.AirCanada.com.

Official Languages committee  Our first challenge is recruitment. Over the years we find fewer and fewer truly bilingual candidates in the different regions of Canada. That makes hiring extremely difficult. We don't want to hire non-bilingual employees, but when we have to hire people, we feel that as soon as they come into the company we need to train them.

Official Languages committee  There is no need at Moncton airport. Also, I think that it is Air Canada Jazz in Moncton, and here, we are talking about positions with Air Canada.

Official Languages committee  Yes, it is for airports, that is correct.

Official Languages committee  Yes. This is the same advertisement that we have reproduced on the other side. It is for openings in airports. With regard to the Courrier de la Nouvelle-Écosse, for example, we have reproduced the ad itself. On the other page, we have indicated the dates when those ads were published.

Official Languages committee  Based on our experience, people do not apply for jobs somewhere other than where they live, because these are entry-level, casual and sometimes part-time jobs. This does not allow them to relocate and rent an apartment somewhere else. As I explained, in the case of flight attendants, we often hire them where we find them, and then they move...

Official Languages committee  That is because we did not need to hire anyone at the Moncton airport.

Official Languages committee  In some cases, the position is shared by many employees. We ensure that, in a branch where a single position is held by many employees, there is at least one bilingual employee at all times. We also provide training.

Official Languages committee  We have updated the action plan. As I said, it was an administrative problem. It had not been updated on paper. However, this action plan is really the foundation for our linguistic activities, and we do follow it.

Official Languages committee  There is the recruitment and training aspect. Obviously, recruitment gives full priority to airports and in-flight service, especially to bilingual, that is, English-French candidates, and the training ensures that current Air Canada employees can learn or keep up their French. Our greatest challenge, at the time we submitted this action plan, was the cost arising from language training.