Good evening,
Mr. Chair and Honourable Members, I’m pleased to meet with the Committee today.
Thank you for inviting me.
Thank you for the opportunity to talk about some of the proposed measures for our transport sector in Bill C-47, the Budget Implementation Act, Part One.
I am joined today by representatives from Transport Canada:
- Serge Bijimine, Assistant Deputy Minister, Policy;
- Colin Stacey, Director General, Air Policy;
- Tamara Rudge, Director General, Surface Transportation Policy; and
- Alain Langlois, Senior General Counsel Executive Director, Transport and Infrastructure Legal Services;
A strong transportation system is fundamental to keeping people and goods moving, and to Canada’s overall economic success.
A strong transportation system is vital to Canada.
Bill C-47, once passed, would strengthen the protection of air travellers rights and help make our supply chains more efficient and resilient
Strengthening Air Passenger Rights
In 2019 we were the first government in Canada’s history to put in place a bill of rights for air passengers.
This Bill gave Canadians important protections against flight delays and cancellations.
Shortly after the Bill came into force, the COVID-19 pandemic hit our air sector incredibly hard and showed there were gaps in the regime.
In response, we strengthened the protections last September to include refunds for situations outside the airline’s control, such as a pandemic.
Last September, we strengthened air passenger rights.
But last year, as the air sector began to quickly recover, passenger volumes surged and we saw an increase in passenger complaints at the Canadian Transportation Agency. This led to a significant backlog.
Once again we learned lessons from the experiences of passengers, and committed to protecting the rights of passengers even further.
We are committed to further protecting air passenger rights.
Bill C-47’s proposed amendments to the Canada Transportation Act would strengthen air passenger rights to make our regime the strongest in the world.
Canada’s air passenger rights will be the strongest in the world.
These changes will put the onus on airlines and hold them even more accountable, and simplify the complaints process to help deal with the current backlog.
For example, air carriers would be required to pay mandatory compensation to travellers for all disruptions no matter the cause, except for very limited cases, which would be defined in regulations.
This means there will be no more loopholes where airlines can claim a disruption is caused by something outside of their control or for a security reason when it isn’t.
Additionally, air carriers would be required to deal with passenger compensation claims within 30 days.
These legislative changes would also allow the Canadian Transportation Agency to establish requirements for delayed baggage.
And these changes would simplify the way that the Canadian Transportation Agency deals with complaints to ensure Canadians concerns are addressed quickly.
Complaints will be processed more quickly.
The Canadian Transportation Agency would also be allowed to recover the cost of air passenger complaints from airlines, which would incentivize airlines to address complaints directly with travellers as quickly as possible.
Companies that don’t comply with the regulations could now be fined up to 250 thousand dollars—a significant increase from the previous amount of 25 thousand dollars.
There is a significant imbalance in power between airlines and their customers where customers can suffer considerable consequences if a service they purchased wasn’t delivered properly.
When a passenger purchases a ticket, that is a financial transaction between the airline and the passenger. As a result it is up to the airline to uphold their obligations to the passenger for delays and cancellations.
That does not mean we are not holding other players in the sector accountable – Budget 2023 also outlined our commitment to requiring data sharing among all players in the air sector, from airlines to airports.
More data-sharing ensures more transparency and therefore more accountability for everyone.
I believe there is a role for government to fix that power imbalance and I believe that the legislative amendments in Bill C-47 will help strengthen the protection of passenger rights.
Strengthening Canada’s Supply Chain Resilience
Our transportation supply chains play a critical role in our economy and they have been put to the test in recent years.
Canadians deserve supply chains that can deliver the essential goods they need on time.
Canadians deserve stable supply chains.
That’s why I convened a National Supply Chain Task Force and welcomed its final report on how to improve the efficiency and resilience of our transportation supply chains.
Bill C-47 includes amendments to address some of the recommendations in that report.
These measures would compel data sharing by shippers accessing federally regulated transportation services.
This would help to improve the efficiency of our existing transportation infrastructure.
Also, the bill includes a temporary extension of the rail interswitching limits in the prairie provinces.
This is expected to enhance options for shippers and would enable greater competition in Canada’s fright rail sector.
It will also help us assess the impacts of interswitching on a pilot basis, and inform our future actions on a national basis.
Conclusion
If passed, Bill C-47 includes important measures to further protect the rights of Canadian air travellers, and to strengthen the efficiency and resilience of our transportation supply chains and trade corridors.
Thank you for your time, and I am happy to answer any questions the Committee members may have.