Finance committee  Absolutely. And again I apologize that I can't respond to you in French. We believe that sharing the pension responsibility over as large a base as possible offers the most security for our members. So that's why we support that initiative. Our members can't be entirely reliant

Finance committee  Mr. Marston, I can tell you that the Air Canada component of CUPE and the flight attendants would certainly support this initiative put forth by the NDP. We sought this during this summer's pension reform. When we had to agree to major concessions, virtually, in our pension reg

Finance committee  Okay. I'll take a shot at capturing what you were asking me. If I get it wrong, please correct me. During my speech I referenced the fact that the entire point of pension regulation is to ensure that members who participate in a pension plan are not then reliant on the survivabi

Finance committee  Hello. My name is Katherine Thompson. I'm the president of the Air Canada Component of CUPE. I'm here with you today representing the 6,600 flight attendants who are employed by Air Canada. Our members participate in a defined benefit pension plan sponsored by Air Canada. It is

Finance committee  Actually, I referred to this as an extraordinary “period”; I make no acknowledgement that they need extraordinary measures. I think they would like to take the opportunity of today's extraordinary circumstances to, as you say, take extraordinary measures. We want temporary and

Finance committee  When $3.2 billion was established as being the deficit in the pension fund, it was at the absolute worst time in the markets. I think we would support their having some kind of relief in when and how their payment schedule would be established, but to make permanent changes to pe

Finance committee  It's amortization.

Finance committee  With consent, and on a temporary basis, it is absolutely something we would consider, but Air Canada is seeking a permanent ten-year amortization, with no consent on the part of the plan-holders.

Finance committee  That means that any pension regulation changes that are granted to Air Canada that would increase the liability for the pension plan participants should be guaranteed with a deemed trust, which would move them up. In the event of an insolvency for Air Canada, we would be higher i

Finance committee  Unfortunately, it's not a pretty picture.

Finance committee  Yes. We would be happy with a 777 aircraft too, though.

Finance committee  We'd be happy with a 777 aircraft.

Finance committee  We'd take an airplane.

Finance committee  I hate to be trite and say that wouldn't be our concern, but we've all collectively invested in our pension plan and we're entitled to reap the reward of that pension promise. And if other stakeholders wouldn't consider Air Canada to be a good financial risk, why should we?

Finance committee  No. To that point, Air Canada's ability to raise money is going to rely on a lot of factors, and that would be one of them, but relatively in the larger scheme a small factor, I would think. It's the difference between the current protection we enjoy and any protection we would l