Transport committee  Thank you, Madam Chair, for the invitation to appear before you today. I know you had invited the former chair of the CTA review panel, the Honourable David Emerson, to appear before you, but unfortunately he was unable to attend. I'll certainly do my best to represent him and

Transport committee  Yes. We consulted quite widely, both in Canada and the U.S., and to a lesser degree in Mexico, where we sought best practices; we looked at ways in which the integration of the continent has taken place, and how we could best position Canada in light of that integration. One of

Transport committee  We certainly encountered this very issue that you raise when we were out consulting various stakeholders, and quite a few of them mentioned the fact that the last time they had had input, or their organizations had had input in this type of a consultation, was actually more than

Transport committee  Absolutely. Let me just start by saying that our initial assumption was that we wouldn't be touching too much on infrastructure, because that would have been outside the scope of transportation. However, as we delved more deeply into this and looked at what other jurisdictions h

Transport committee  That's an excellent question, and it was one that we struggled with as a panel. One of the elements I should note in this is that if foreign ownership increases to 49%, it doesn't necessarily mean increased foreign airline competition in Canada. It merely allows carriers, or air

Transport committee  In terms of the north?

Transport committee  In northern Canada you presently have two large carriers operating throughout the north, and smaller regional carriers operating to and from smaller communities. They play a vital role in northern transportation. Road and rail north of the 60th parallel, and to most of that terri

Transport committee  The main challenge for the carriers that provide service in the Far North is, as you indicated, the small number of passengers and the amount of business they do. Some countries like the United States, Russia, and certain others, have overcome this problem thanks to programs tha

Transport committee  Yes. They were designed for the needs of remote areas. But the United States, for instance, has areas that are not as remote as ours.

Transport committee  Sure.

Transport committee  No, that's fine. I understand French.

Transport committee  That's correct. There is a community that is quite close to the Ontario border and has been designated as a remote community. Consequently, it receives subsidies. The cost of air transport is so high in some communities that the American government decided to grant subsidies so

Transport committee  Yes, runways and that sort of thing.

Transport committee  Yes.

Transport committee  We did not study the prices in detail. Aside from the price issue, Canada has another challenge, its user-pay system. In the United States the system is squarely subsidized in all respects. So it is difficult to make comparisons. Travelling between Vancouver and northern Yukon or