MPs Rushing Air Canada Bill

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MPs are speeding passage of an Air Canada concession bill. The Commons transport committee agreed to interrupt ongoing hearings on rail safety to report the bill by May 16. Members would not say if quick scrutiny was tied to cabinet consideration of $1.3 billion in subsidies sought by Air Canada contractor Bombardier Inc.

“We just have to be tight and move the agenda along,” said MP Judy Sgro (Humber River-Black Creek, Ont.), Liberal chair of the transport committee, who urged members to “move this thing along”.

Bill C-10 An Act To Amend The Air Canada Public Participation Act rewrites the 1988 law that required the airline to operate maintenance shops in Winnipeg, Mississauga and Montréal as a condition of privatization. Amendments allow Air Canada to ship most work to the U.S. or overseas.

“We need action now,” Sgro earlier told the Commons; “Inasmuch as debate in the House is important, as chair of the transport committee I am eager to hear from the stakeholders once the legislation is referred to the committee.”

Committee members suggested hearings may be limited to four days or less. “I’m not sure how many meetings we want to discuss that – one or two,” said MP Kelly Block (Carleton Trail-Eagle Creek, Sask.), Conservative transport critic; “Clause by clause, it’s one clause, right? It’s not going to take us a long time.”

MP Linda Duncan (Edmonton Strathcona), New Democrat transport critic, questioned the hasty proceedings. “I’d like to suggest that we stop being so cut and dried about the number of days,” said Duncan. “We’re going to, for sure, want to hear from representatives of those three cities, and there may be additional people who will be contacting the clerk and saying, ‘I want to be heard on this’”; “ If people really want to be heard on this bill, I don’t think we should be saying, ‘Oh, no, we only set aside four days.’”.

Conservative and New Democrat MPs have objected to Bill C-10 as a concession that clears Air Canada of liability following a 2015 Québec Court of Appeal ruling. The airline was cited for transferring maintenance work to Duluth, Minnesota when its privatized subsidiary Aveos Fleet Performance went bankrupt, costing 2,600 jobs.

“The Liberal government is letting down 2,600 families across Canada,” said New Democrat MP Alexandre Boulerice (Rosemont-La Petite-Patrie, Que.); “When they came to power, the Liberals realized they did not have to enforce the law because they could just change it. That makes things much easier, for sure. There is no need to enforce the law when it can be changed so that Air Canada is no longer required to carry out aircraft maintenance in Canada.”

Conservative MP Garnett Genuis (Sherwood Park-Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.) told the Commons: “The law was clear, the law was broken, the workers were suing Air Canada in court and had won at a number of levels – and now the law is being changed.”

Bill C-10 was introduced after Air Canada agreed to purchase new aircraft from Bombardier Inc., which is seeking federal grants to match funding received from the Québec government. “We’re still having constructive discussions with the company,” Industry Minister Navdeep Bains yesterday told reporters. Asked, “Is outsourcing of jobs a factor in your decision?” Bains replied: “We’re looking at the business case, so all these aspects come into play.”