NDP and the Air Canada Public Participation Act

[CD]

I'm shocked and amazed...

IN THE HOUSE ~ NDP BILL WOULD LET AIR CANADA CREATE JOBS IN VANCOUVER

Wed 6 May 2009

40th Parliament, 2nd Session
Context : Introduction of Private Members' Bills

Bill C-379. Introduction and first reading

Mr. Peter Julian (Burnaby—New Westminster, NDP) moved for leave to introduce Bill C-379, An Act to amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act.

Mr. Speaker, I thank my seconder, the member for Vancouver East (Libby Davies). She supports this bill, as well. The bill calls for an operational and overhaul centre for Air Canada to be constructed and maintained in Vancouver, British Columbia, so the member of Parliament for Vancouver East is standing up, as she always does, for people of the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.

When the Air Canada Public Participation Act was put into effect, it called for the corporation, Air Canada, to maintain operational and overhaul centres in the city of Winnipeg, the Montreal urban community and the city of Mississauga, but it did not include the city of Vancouver. As a result, the Lower Mainland has seen a haemorrhaging of jobs in the operational sector, in overhaul centres. A wide variety of jobs have been cut back. We believe Air Canada should be maintaining those jobs on the west coast of Canada, it should be maintaining those jobs in the Lower Mainland. This has an impact not just in the Richmond, Vancouver and Burnaby—New Westminster areas but of course right through the Lower Mainland. There are small businesses that depend on the dollars that are brought in through the provision of those jobs in operations and in overhaul.

So for those reasons, the NDP is supporting this amendment to change the Air Canada Public Participation Act and to oblige Air Canada to maintain those facilities in the city of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia.
(Motions deemed adopted, bill read the first time and printed)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 6, 2009

NDP BILL WOULD LET AIR CANADA CREATE JOBS IN VANCOUVER

Ottawa – Peter Julian, MP (Burnaby-New Westminster) and NDP International Trade Critic, today tabled a Private Member’s Bill in the House of Commons, Bill C-379, An Act to amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act. The Bill would amend section 6(c) of the act to require an “operational and overhaul centre” for Air Canada in Vancouver, British Columbia.

“Vancouver is the gateway to the Asia-Pacific world and a major centre for domestic and international travel. Air Canada is important to us, not just to maintain Canada’s air lift capacity but also to ensure that high skilled jobs are created and retained all across the country including in BC”, stated Julian.

At critical points in its history, Air Canada has been the regular recipient of public funding in order to ensure it remains as a national airline capable of serving not only business interests, but the national interest of the travelling public. The Bill would improve service to Canadian travelers by allowing for more planes to be serviced and maintained in the BC region. It would also ensure that service and safety positions such as stewards and flight attendants are maintained in BC.

“It is fundamentally important strategically to keep those high skilled jobs in Canada and that our transport infrastructure needs to be served by appropriate made-in-Canada infrastructure. The creation of an operational and overhaul centre for Air Canada is consistent with this vision for a national transportation system built in the public interest.”

Peter Julian - In The House

Bill C-379 - An Act to amend the Air Canada Public Participation Act

[Rockie]

"So for those reasons, the NDP is supporting this amendment to change the Air Canada Public Participation Act and to oblige Air Canada to maintain those facilities in the city of Vancouver and the Lower Mainland of British Columbia."

Unbelievable.

How about scrapping the ACPPA altogether and letting Air Canada put their facilities where they think it would be best for their business?

[Donald]

And yet people wonder how the WJ's of the world can come along and operate at a much lower cost.

Un believeable.

[Wilbur]

Typical NDP stupidity from a couple of their left wing crackpots who have done nothing in life but politics and social service agencies. This private members bill doesn't "let" AC do anything unless there is currently a secret law that prohibits AC from having a base in Vancouver.

[North Shore]

Well, my general sentiments run pretty much in parallel with Rockie's: let AC decide how best to run its business without political interference.
HOWEVER, if there is an ACPPA, then if I was an MP from an area where there had been the closure of a maintenance base, with concomitant job losses, then I'd be all over amending the Act to try to benefit my constituents, too. Can't blame them for trying - it's their job..

As for the Ad Hominems, there's lots of people from all sides of the political spectrum who can be described as little more than apparatchiks...

[2R]

Why not have a maintenace base in Vancouver
Lots of excellent AME`s in CYVR

[boeingboy]

I agree - this is simply a stupid idea drummed up by politicians desprate for votes.


2R,
You completely miss the point of this thread.

[Dash-Ate]

Worth a try. I'm not sure why some hate the idea of democracy and freedom. They want there to be only 1 party that we must submit to. All other ideas are "crackpots" apparently

How's life under the other two parties? We've never had less services (schools, pools etc) in our cities, never had more and higher taxes and laws (HST coming to Ontario soon), and the economy is toast and we're spending our money and lives on a war that majority of Canadians do not want. So this is freedom huh.

[KAG]

Last time I checked, AC was a private company. What the hell gives the right for the government to dictate how Air Canada will do business?!
One could argue that because tax payer money has/is been infused into AC that the GOV should have some say.
On the other hand, it could be GOV intervention that is costing AC its profits with inefficient forced business practices and regulations. I vote the latter true.
Wasn’t the point of AC going private to make it more efficient, as our government and efficiency don’t go hand in hand.
Level the playing field.

[ez4u2say]

I believe that if AC had their way they would pull head office out of Montreal but one of the stipulations they have is that they can't...something to do with a government clause in the running of this company which came up when they became private....I just wonder how much the government is involved in the running of this so called private company which probably has it's hands tied in various rules etc. which others are not.

[mattedfred]

Level the playing field.

are all of the WJ flight attendants now bilingual?

[WetJet]

Level the playing field.

are all of the WJ flight attendants now bilingual?

Last weekend I talked with a WJ gate agent who wanted to be a WJ FA and was told to not even bother applying since she didn't speak french. So, no, not all the WJ FA's are bilingual, but they are moving in the right direction. When I was at Jazz, there were still tons of unilingual FAs. Good luck trying to convince the old Air Ontario or Air BC betties that they need to be able to speak french!

[North Shore]

Good luck trying to convince the old Air Ontario or Air BC betties that they need to be able to speak french!

....That's because Jamaican and Mandarin, respectively, would be better choices!

[Jaques Strappe]

One could argue that because tax payer money has/is been infused into AC that the GOV should have some say.

KAG I know that your post was pointing out government interference but if it can be argued that the government has infused taxpayer money into Air Canada, when was that exactly? In the late 80's, the taxpayer was paid handsomely when AC went private. Since that time, they have suffered from all the government interference but to my knowledge, have not had taxpayer money infused.

I am just wondering because everyone says that Air Canada keeps getting bailed out by the government. Just wondering when that actually happened?

[yfly]

Very true JS,

From Bill C-29,

"In February 2002, the Standing Joint Committee on Official Languages tabled a report entitled Air Canada: Good Intentions Are Not Enough! The report made 16 recommendations to ensure Air Canada’s compliance with the OLA. Among the recommendations were proposals that Air Canada be provided with federal government financial assistance for language training and that the Air Canada Public Participation Act be amended so that the OLA would take precedence over collective agreements. The Canadian Alliance members of the committee issued a minority report that concluded that official language requirements hampered Air Canada’s ability to compete with other airlines, and recommended that all OLA provisions be removed from the Air Canada Public Participation Act.

In 2004, the House of Commons Standing Committee on Official Languages again heard witnesses on official language issues related to Air Canada. In testimony before the committee, Air Canada claimed that the official language requirements were problematic in a number of ways:

Air Canada said that following its merger with Canadian Airlines, the airline was obligated to comply with official language requirements while simultaneously providing job security for its mostly unilingual Canadian Airlines employees. Air Canada found language training for unilingual employees to be costly,(9) and complained that its obligations to comply with the OLA were often inconsistent with seniority provisions in its collective agreements, and with its legal obligations under the Canada Labour Code.(10)
Officials from the airline stated that the company had spent considerable amounts of time and money to comply with the OLA, and that the playing field should be levelled by making all national airlines in Canada subject to the Act. For example, Air Canada cited the cost of compliance with provisions under Part IV of the OLA, which requires it to advertise in minority press markets, as an additional burden not imposed on its competitors.(11)
Air Canada therefore requested that the Government of Canada act on the recommendations made by the Joint Committee on Official Languages in its 2002 report, and:

provide the company with the same financial resources as are available to other federal institutions to defray the costs of making the airline more bilingual; and
enact legislative changes that declare that achieving official language goals takes precedence over seniority provisions in Air Canada’s collective agreements, and the Canada Labour Code.
In response to this request, some members of the House of Commons committee pointed out that Air Canada knew it would be subject to official language requirements before acquiring Canadian Airlines, and should have factored related costs into the acquisition.(12)"

To the best of my knowledge, no funds were recieved in response to ACE's request and it certainly doesn't indicate so here.

AC hasn't been a crown corporation since the late 80's and have competed with a series operating of handicaps since.

[mattedfred]

Good luck trying to convince the old Air Ontario or Air BC betties that they need to be able to speak french!

they don't need to be convinced as they are now required to learn french. are the original WJ FA's required to learn french?

[KAG]

My bad. I quess I fell into the "everyone" category. That makes it even worse then. Why does the GOV insist on having some measure of control with unfair rules?!

[2R]

It is the golden rule
Whoever has the gold makes the rules