Human Resources committee  I'm speaking for my colleagues from the small airports caucus of the Canadian Airports Council. Every time a regulatory burden falls on them, it's a lot harder. They don't have the kind of staff that we do at the top eight airports in Canada. If we're going to have reporting requirements, we should make them as reasonable and as templated as possible so that small airports aren't spending an inordinate amount of money and time reporting on what they're doing; rather, they are just doing it.

Human Resources committee  I live in a very bureaucratic environment. For example, my ground lease says that every five years I have to do a full report on how we're doing. It costs a lot of money. In fact, we hire two consultants to come in and do it for us, because we're too busy. Again, I'm not moaning too badly about that, but I worry about my colleagues at the smaller airports.

Human Resources committee  I would have to see the regulations. I'm sure we will have all kinds of time to talk to the CTA about it. I know from my work in other areas with persons with disabilities that generally businesses want to do the right thing. I don't disagree that ultimately you have to have that hammer of the fines, but we should just make sure that what we're looking for in the first case is information and dialogue and that we're not jumping right to compliance and fines.

Human Resources committee  Certainly, and again, as I said in my remarks, I'm not afraid of this legislation. We've been accessible for a long time. I think if there are any areas for us to improve, we will embrace them. I think a lot of smaller entities out there could be faced with pretty stiff unfunded obligations, as the other MP, Ms.

Human Resources committee  We certainly hope so. I think we're getting known around the world as a very accessible airport, regardless of your handicap and abilities. I think it does give us a competitive advantage. I think airlines know that we'll look after their passengers. We don't look at it as a cost; we look at it as a cost of doing business.

Human Resources committee  I think we are. It can be a bit difficult to measure, but when I talk to various groups, they know, through their communities and Internet forums around the world, the places you want to avoid, and we're certainly not in that category. People feel comfortable transiting through our airport.

Human Resources committee  Right.

Human Resources committee  I absolutely agree. I just worry about imposing a solution. For example, if we have to build a new transborder terminal and we're told, “Do this on the old terminal”, that's just going to be money that gets thrown away if in four years from now we have another part of the terminal that's opening up.

Human Resources committee  Well, as I said, I really liked it when Mr. Streiner talked about information packages. I'm speaking for airports now. If an airport is falling short on some important aspect of accessibility—I think we would have heard by now, but you never know—give the airport a lot of information and a lot of opportunity to voluntarily fix what is wrong.

Human Resources committee  I appreciate the kind words. It has just been in our DNA from the very beginning. That term has been used, the idea that our people should understand what it's like. In everything we do, we try to put ourselves in other people's shoes. For example, when working with the Rick Hansen Foundation, we realized that once people with assistance dogs go through all the various steps to go to the United States, if their dog has to go to the washroom, what do they do?

Human Resources committee  Yes, sir.

Human Resources committee  I'm not opposed to the legislation. As Mr. Streiner said, there's a lot of information out there. Compliance audits are very heavy-handed from the very beginning, and I just hope that it doesn't come across as heavy-handed, especially at airports that may be a little bit behind.

Human Resources committee  Thank you very much. As Mr. Streiner said, it's a growing issue, especially as we have an aging population all over the world. It's not uncommon for us now to have requests for 50, 75, or 100 wheelchairs to meet airplanes from certain areas of the world. We have seen as many as 150 requests from one aircraft, which is more than all the wheelchairs we have in the airport.

Human Resources committee  That's a good question, and that's why I raised it. For the most part, I think that anybody who has built a new terminal—and most airports in Canada are new—have conformed to CSA-B651, which is a very good built environment code. I don't know what will happen if airports are mandated to be standing at the curb with wheelchairs.

Human Resources committee  Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you to the committee for inviting me to speak today. I'm very grateful to have this opportunity to talk about accessibility. I'd like to provide you with a broad perspective on behalf of the airport community, because it's an important topic that will impact us all.