Transport committee  Yes. In general, it is decreasing. There are always years that are—

Transport committee  Our concern is not so much about security as it is about the financial aspect. Privatization like this could have a financial impact. In any event, I would hope that privatization would be duly governed by regulations stating that standards should be maintained. Our concern about privatization is instead linked to the fact that it would make our industry even less competitive compared to other modes of transportation and, above all, less competitive than our neighbours to the south.

Transport committee  No, we would be less competitive.

Transport committee  Yes, clearly, that is one of the points we are making. They're not subjected to the same kind of working environment therefore you can't apply the same exact regulations. You have to be able to adapt regulations to the environment. That's the objective and that's the purpose of the ICOA standards.

Transport committee  If that were the case, you would probably cease having air service in the north. It already is not a profitable industry there because of the land masses and the population up there. To add costs to operating those services would probably mean the end of those services.

Transport committee  Foreign ownership is not necessarily a safety-related issue, in our opinion. Some people feel it could help bring capital to Canada. I think there's a misconception that this would help create low-cost carriers in Canada. There will never be low-cost carriers in Canada with the fees and charges that we have here in this country.

Transport committee  Good afternoon. My name is John McKenna. I'm the president of the Air Transport Association of Canada. ATAC has represented Canada's commercial air transport industry since 1934. We have approximately 190 members engaged in commercial aviation, operating in every region of Canada.

Transport committee  If I may, as I mentioned, that would all depend on the compensation that is set, the format that is set. If compensation is beyond reasonable, that can only drive up costs down the line. I can give you an example. Two of my brothers travelled back from Europe this summer, and their flight was delayed by one day.

Transport committee  It's 140 million trips.

Transport committee  First of all, you should have travelled on a Canadian airline. You would have gotten better service, for sure. I want to raise the question that was asked to the minister this morning as to why this is in regulations rather than law. I think the minister stated that it's easier to amend a regulation than it is to amend a law.

Transport committee  I don't have the answer to all of those.

Transport committee  Yes. I'm sure that the U.S. is not quite open to it. I'll let my colleague answer that.

Transport committee  Actually, we're still studying that matter and we don't have comments to make at this point. I'm sure you'll be hearing from other airlines later today that have comments on that, and I look forward to hearing their comments also.

Transport committee  That is exactly what I meant. Reciprocity means that we are given a right if we also give that right to foreign investors. So if Americans wanted to invest in Canada, would we have the right, by virtue of reciprocity, to invest in an American airline up to 49% or 25% per investor, as the case may be?

Transport committee  I said that if the bill or the subsequent regulations require the airlines to pay large amounts of compensation, that will ticket prices will of course be higher ultimately.