Transport committee  This truly speaks to refund. I would like to stress that compensation is not the same as a refund. Compensation is for inconvenience of your not getting there on time. We are talking here about simply giving passengers back their own money that they paid for services that were never delivered.

Transport committee  Mr. Streiner displayed stunning ignorance about the mandate of his own organization in what he stated in his testimony. While the APPR is fully drafted, it is not a complete code. In the past 16 years, the agency had no [Inaudible--Editor] to enforce passengers' fundamental right to a refund.

Transport committee  Mr. Chair, Canadians are entitled to transparency in how a government body deals with their finances, with decisions that affect their money. The motion tabled by Mr. Barsalou-Duval helps transparency and helps passengers get an explanation as to how the Canadian Transportation Agency came to issue a misleading statement on vouchers.

Transport committee  That's a question we would very much like to know the answer to. Certainly, passengers did not ask for it. The statement on vouchers is beneficial to airlines and harms passengers. We would very much like to see the documents, the correspondence and the internal memos that led to that statement, including emails within the agency, emails between the agency and the airlines, and between the agency and other branches of the government.

Transport committee  Mr. Chair, the regulations have to be read as a whole. Section 122 of the air transportation regulations is not a stand-alone provision. It has to be read in conjunction with section 111, which also requires terms and conditions to be just and reasonable. In the past 60 years, the Canadian Transportation Agency confirmed correctly that those provisions that require provisions about refunds in the tariff have to be read in conjunction with the requirements that those provisions be reasonable.

Transport committee  It is not a fair assessment at all. First of all, when it comes to the issue of refunds, there are no gaps. The APPR is indeed poorly drafted, but it is not a complete code. For example, the APPR does not say that passengers are entitled to a seat in the cabin, but the APPR's silence does not mean the airline can transport passengers in the cargo bay.

Transport committee  Based on the publicly available information, that is not a fair assessment. With respect to Air Canada, which has public financial data, that would not be true. The best evidence of the serious doubts about the veracity of those statements is that none of the airlines have filed for any kind of bankruptcy protection or insolvency, or any kind of proceeding that would signal that they are in financial distress.

Transport committee  Mr. Chair, the March 25 statement issued by the agency misleads the public about their rights. A quasi-judicial body does not speak through public statements; it speaks through its decisions. The issuing of some general, broad policy guides, interpretation guides about new regulations may happen, but about a matter that is contested, a matter that is already before the body or very likely to come before the body in a very short time, is entirely unacceptable.

Transport committee  I don't want to speculate about those reasons. Our position is that the airlines have to issue those refunds. When you look at the actual facts—at the balance sheets, for example, for Air Canada, which does have public financial data—they would have had the money to refund passengers.

Transport committee  That is a question that one should be looking into further. Surely, passengers did not ask for it. That measure benefits airlines and stonewalls passengers. That is one more reason it would be so important for this committee to review in detail all the correspondence that happened between the Canadian Transportation Agency, the government and the airlines.

Transport committee  Mr. Chair, we didn't receive any translation, unfortunately.

Transport committee  In the past months, we have seen lawlessness displace order and regulatory capture displace good government. It may fall upon the courts to restore order. However, it is your mandate as elected representatives to restore good government and to put an end to the agency's running amok.

Transport committee  Mr. Chair and honourable members, thank you for the privilege of appearing here today. Air Passenger Rights is Canada's independent, non-profit organization of volunteers devoted to empowering travellers. We accept no government or business funding, and we have no business interest in the travel industry.