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House Hansard - 241

44th Parl. 1st Sess.
October 27, 2023 10:00AM
Context: House Hansard - 241 - Oct/27/23
Mr. Vance Badawey
  • Oct/27/23 10:27:35 a.m.
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  • Re: Bill C-52 
Madam Speaker, this bill, Bill C-52, does not propose but would impose a process by which complaints are received and dealt with. It would do this in a way that is grassroots. It would attach the local municipality, the residents, the airline and any others identified within the complaint to enter into, first of all, creating a committee. With the dialogue they would otherwise have at that committee, regardless of what that complaint may be, as outlined by the member, there would be a resolve to that. It would allow us, as a government, to ensure that transparency and accountability are undertaken and, therefore, solutions are brought forward to deal with the complaints brought to our attention and to the attention of the airlines.
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Context: House Hansard - 241 - Oct/27/23
Ms. Niki Ashton (Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, NDP)
  • Oct/27/23 12:48:13 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague for raising his party's concerns about this bill. I want to focus on the airline industry and an issue that affects many Canadians and Quebeckers. They are frustrated that the federal government is adopting such a weak air passenger bill of rights and that it is not doing more to stand up to airlines, which are exploiting passengers and putting them in very difficult positions without compensating them or treating them fairly. Could my colleague comment on that?
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Context: House Hansard - 241 - Oct/27/23
Mr. Gabriel Ste-Marie
  • Oct/27/23 12:49:08 p.m.
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Madam Speaker, I thank my hon. colleague for his important question and his deep outrage. We are all outraged that big companies can behave like this. Our system is one where, when there is a payment transaction for airline service, the customer is entitled to receive good service. Our current federal legislation is inadequate when that is not the case. Again, I want to mention the work of my colleague from Pierre-Boucher—Les Patriotes—Verchères, who sits on the Standing Committee on Transport, among others, and his colleagues, who are working to change this. Under the current legislation, large airlines have a financial incentive to take more risks to maximize their profits. When their service falls short—if there are not enough seats on a flight because they have oversold tickets, for example—the result is that the consumer has to file a complaint with the Canadian Transportation Agency and wait several years to perhaps receive a positive outcome. The cost of those complaints, given the flawed legislation, means that airlines feel it is worth taking so many risks. This has to change. We need to work on it.
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