Human Resources committee  Mr. Chair, honourable members of the committee, thank you for the invitation to appear before you today. Since I only have 10 minutes at my disposal, I think it would be preferable for you and for everyone if I continued in English. It will be quicker. I was born and raised in

Human Resources committee  There is an absolute concern, yes, that airlines could be created in this country that are really shell companies for foreign operators, for which the bulk of the flying is done by an operator who doesn't have a Canadian operator certificate or whose planes are not flown by Canad

Human Resources committee  Yes, they do. I talked to my good friend who is the Canadian president of ALPA on the weekend. Of course, he knew I was coming here. We share exactly the same sentiments when it comes to this. Even though our pilots are not affected, they have some pilots who are unemployed right

Human Resources committee  There are a couple of aspects, as I understand it, to explain how it exists. First of all, none of us is afraid of good competition, fair Canadian competition in which airlines compete against each other in a competitive environment. We'd like all the airlines to have the same

Human Resources committee  Wet leasing by definition is when an airline gets airplanes and pilots from a second party. Let's say the government asks Air Canada to transport, on short notice, hundreds of troops from one place in Canada to somewhere else. If Air Canada says that their airplanes are in main

Human Resources committee  No, that currently is one of the loopholes in the temporary foreign worker program. If you want to get pilots to fly your airplanes you'll have to go through an LMO or go through the temporary foreign worker program to rationalize hiring pilots, but if you want to wet lease and g

Human Resources committee  We don't have any. As I said, Air Canada doesn't use them for two reasons: Air Canada is a proud supporter of the Canadian economy and the industry, and the pilots association has collective agreements with the company that say that the company will hire Canadian pilots, and we t

Human Resources committee  Yes.

Human Resources committee  Again, I would have to understand the level of operation, the type of airplane. Is it a small operation? Is it a float operation or that kind of thing?

Human Resources committee  In my remarks I alluded to the fact that we're going to have a pilot shortage, because the pay and the employment opportunities are just not there anymore, and until those get corrected.... It's a significant investment. You either have to join the air force and invest your time

Human Resources committee  I have documents in front of me going back years; I can say at least four years. Every time we meet with folks of influence like yourselves, we bring this up. I will meet several MPs this week. It is on my list of things to remind you of. It has been three or four years.... As

Human Resources committee  Well, my knowledge on the basis of how our country works is as basic as most people's. When I see the Prime Minister on national TV stating that he has acknowledged that there are issues with the program and that they will be looked at in some fashion, I'm reassured that you've i

Human Resources committee  We have been, sir. All I can say is that I really hope the work your committee does helps to address some of these issues. We can see them as employees and workers, whether it is in flying airplanes or working in a restaurant. Hopefully we'll see some changes that are productive

Transport committee  Good morning, Mr. Chairman and committee members. Thank you very much for the opportunity to speak to you today. We'll focus on SMS in the few short minutes we have. I started flying when I was 15 years old in Newfoundland as a young air cadet. At the age of 18, I joined the Roy

Transport committee  Our views on the flight attendant ratio is that we defer to the aircraft manufacturers and the safety standards that have been set in the manufacture and the certification of aircraft. There's a process that the aircraft manufacturers follow to ensure that the proper number of as