Transport committee  Mr. Chair and all honourable members, on behalf of the Canadian Air Traffic Control Association, I truly appreciate the opportunity to appear before your committee. CATCA is a Unifor local trade union representing all air traffic controllers in Canada. It conducts collective bar

Transport committee  Thank you. We are calling on this committee to ask the government to provide Nav Canada with whatever financial support is needed in the form of a grant to help them weather this temporary downturn so they no longer need to consider reducing core services for not only control to

Transport committee  With regard to the level-of-service reviews that are happening in all the towers, that decision is ultimately with the Minister of Transport. He'll have the authority to either agree or not agree with the report, if it even makes it to his desk. With regard to the service in the

Transport committee  Yes, Nav Canada has been utilizing the wage subsidy. The last I heard, Nav Canada was losing approximately $1.3 million per day, and without that subsidy it would be about $1.8 million per day. Could you just repeat the second part of your question?

Transport committee  The permanent reduction at Nav Canada stands at around 750 people so far. We were at about 5,200, now down to about 4,500, and there are more on the block, as has been mentioned. As for permanent layoffs, it's a little different. Some people took early retirement incentives. I ca

Transport committee  With regard to the trainees, we do have several in the system—a handful, I'm going to guess, right now. They were kept around and were very close to qualification. It does take upwards of two or three years. In some cases it is less, depending on where you work, but the schooling

Transport committee  Yes, it does appear that the Nav Canada management have given themselves bonuses and have decided to lay people off, but the reality is, I think, that the question is much better answered by Nav Canada itself.

Transport committee  I'm sorry. The translation was very short. Can it be repeated, please?

Transport committee  Absolutely. The safety of the general public is paramount to air traffic controllers. Nav Canada's priorities are misplaced. They're not focused on safety or the economic stability of the air navigation industry. We're absolutely committed to protecting Canadian airspace and all

Transport committee  Thank you for the question. With regard to Castlegar, it used to be an air traffic control tower. Now it's an airport advisory service. It is on Nav Canada's list to stop providing service there. This is where flight service specialists work. They provide a weather advisory and

Transport committee  It's quite obvious why I am here today. We have a goal and it's a requirement for Canada to retain the world-class expertise we have. We can't allow for short-sighted decisions with regard to laying off air traffic controllers. As safety is paramount, it will be affected. Without

Transport committee  It's a good question. With regard to air traffic controllers, I can tell you that, with the ones who have been served notice already, I have already seen several examples of them looking for employment elsewhere around the world. We're very highly skilled. We're in demand, and th

Transport committee  I can liken it to a police officer at an intersection where there's no red light or the lights are out. That officer directs traffic around to make sure that everything flows in a reasonable and very safe manner. If you look at air traffic controllers, that's exactly what we do—a

Transport committee  Well, hopefully they will still be around, if they are laid off. If they're not around and have been scooped up by many other air navigation service providers around the world.... As I said before, all trainees, with the exception of a handful, were terminated in September. With

Transport committee  We do, 100%. As I said in my opening statement, we are hopeful that the government will come through with a grant to help enable Nav Canada to not lay off any employees at all, so that we'll be there when the time is right.