In 1994, Canada signed the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). One of the provisions of that agreement was to allow the companies of member countries to do "aerial work" in each other's countries. In Canada, aerial work falls under Part 702. The problem is that in Canada, it was prohibited for foreign licensed pilots to fly under Part 702. This prohibition, of course, was not written under Part IV, as some people would like to imagine, but it was written, quite rightfully so, under Part VII regulations. Back then, we still had the ANO and the ARs etc, but the news CARs were being written and the lawmakers, who knew and understood the laws and regulations of this country, were converting the old rules into what we know today, the Canadian Aviation Regulations (CAR).
So when the CARs were written, the prohibition to have foreign licensed pilots to fly under Part VII was obviously not written into Part IV, but under Part VII where it should be. While prohibiting the use of foreign licensed pilots, these Regulations contained some exceptions and conditions which allowed limited and restricted use foreign licensed pilots. This is why each Part had its own Regulation:
702.65 prohibited foreign licensed pilots for aerial work
703.88 prohibited foreign licensed pilots for air taxi
704.108 did the same for commuters
705.106 covered it for airlines.
The purposes for which a Foreign License Validation Certificate (FLVC) may be issued, that are listed in 421.07 (2), can only be allowed for air operations that do not prohibit foreign licensed pilots in the first place. Parts 702, 703, 704 and 705 do not allow foreign licensed pilots, so any operation under these parts cannot possibly be permitted by a clause under Part IV.
To come back to NAFTA, how did the lawmakers allow pilots who were members of NAFTA countries to do aerial work in Canada under Part 702? They could not possibly just insert a clause in 421.07 (2) to allow it because 702.65, which is written just like its siblings under Parts 703, 704 and 705 did not allow it:
Flight Crew Member Qualifications
702.65 No air operator shall permit a person to act and no person shall act as a flight crew member in an aircraft unless the person
(a) holds the licence and ratings required by Part IV
Had they just added a clause under 421.07(2) to state that pilots who were members of NAFTA countries could perform aerial work in Canada if they were provided with a FLVC, that clause would have been in direct contradiction to 702.65, so the provision to allow NAFTA member pilots to perform aerial work in Canada was written in the following manner:
Flight Crew Member Qualifications
702.65 No air operator shall permit a person to act and no person shall act as a flight crew member in an aircraft unless the person
(a) holds the licence and ratings required by Part IV or, where the air operator is the holder of an air operator certificate issued in accordance with the North American Free Trade Agreement, the equivalent foreign licence and ratings;
The intent of the lawmakers who wrote 702.65 in this manner was to allow only foreign pilots of NAFTA member countries to do aerial work in Canada. But according to the twisted interpretation of the CARs that our current administrators at Transport Canada are making, any foreign licensed pilots with a valid FLVC can fly under Parts 702, 703, 704 and 705, so the exception that is made specifically for NAFTA member pilots in 702.65 is no longer limited to US and Mexican pilots: a Czech, a German, a Belgian or a British can do aerial work in Canada. All he has to do is get a FLVC under 421.07(2)(j).
You all know that this is not what the regulations had intended.
To come back to Part 705, it says:
Pilot Qualifications
705.106 (1) Subject to subsection (3), no air operator shall permit a person to act and no person shall act as the pilot-in-command, second-in-command or cruise relief pilot of an aircraft unless the person
(a) holds the licence, ratings and endorsements required by Part IV;
That means that under 705, no foreign licensed pilots are allowed. Not even Mexicans. Not even Americans. Not even under 421.07(2)(j).
Is anyone working at TC Enforcement or are they all on extended leave, waiting for this problem to go away on its own?