Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

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Northbound69
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Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

Post by Northbound69 »

Hi everyone,

Haven't seen this posted here but saw it on Reddit so I figured I'd circulate it more.

https://consultations.tc.canada.ca/en/c ... l-services

Transport Canada is proposing increasing our fees to get licenses, ADBs, medicals, write tests, do flight tests etc etc.

The fees have been pegged to inflation, but this is a massive increase, doubling or even tripling fees.

And as a reminder, this is stuff the FAA does for free for their pilots.

The consultation period closes on Monday April 13th, so please take some time to comment on the proposal, and to write to your MPs about it.

Hopefully we can moderate the fee increases downwards.
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Canoehead
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Re: Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

Post by Canoehead »

Agree 100%. I could maybe handle increases if we saw improved services accordingly. When a person is trying to talk to someone about their medical (in many cases delayed and interfering with earning a living), and the damned voicemail won't even listen to you, I have a hard time forking out more money.

As far as our MPs helping, given the state of our political system in Canada lately, I hold zero hope in any support from anyone representing the people.

That is a thing of the past.
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7ECA
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Re: Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

Post by 7ECA »

Completely unacceptable, and very convenient that TC sneaks in this consultation process with little to no notice to end-users.

I guess this is part of PM Carney's plan to make departments more self-sufficient, but the idea that any department can be totally reliant on end-users for operational funding is beyond ridiculous. We already saw fees for everything increasing by a minimum of 2%/year due to a decree by PM Trudeau a number of years back, which was barely palatable when there was zero increase in processing speed or services rendered.

Now to see TC proposing massive hikes in fees, is disheartening. And the idea that taxpayers are unfairly burdened by the current fee structure is a red herring argument at best. Taxes go towards the operating budgets of numerous departments that the vast majority of taxpayers have zero direct use for or need of service(s) from... that's just how this works. If you believe you should have the right to pick and choose what your tax dollars fund, you're delusional at best.
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Dias
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Re: Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

Post by Dias »

It's a tax. They found another way to increase taxes.
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Northbound69
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Re: Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

Post by Northbound69 »

Canoehead wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2026 9:58 am
As far as our MPs helping, given the state of our political system in Canada lately, I hold zero hope in any support from anyone representing the people.

That is a thing of the past.
I doubt it will help, but it took me 5 minutes, cc'ed the minister and it lets them know pilots are actively engaged.

If anyone lives in those by-election areas, that would be ideal...
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digits_
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Re: Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

Post by digits_ »

What a massive cockup is that website from a privacy point of view. You need to verify your email (makes sense) and then they publish it under the poster's messages.

The class action for that privacy violation alone should pay for our fees for a long time ;-)
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Northbound69
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Re: Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

Post by Northbound69 »

digits_ wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2026 9:37 pm The class action for that privacy violation alone should pay for our fees for a long time ;-)
BRB, need to make a burner account...

Don't want Big TC coming after me.
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Northbound69
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Re: Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

Post by Northbound69 »

I just checked, and they extended the consultation period to Apr 30th now!
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‘Bob’
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Re: Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

Post by ‘Bob’ »

I don’t care. My company pays for it. They are better at lobbying than I am so they can deal with it. :lol:
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Northbound69
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Re: Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

Post by Northbound69 »

‘Bob’ wrote: Sun Apr 12, 2026 1:43 pm I don’t care. My company pays for it. They are better at lobbying than I am so they can deal with it. :lol:
I guess since you got yours, everyone else can pound sand?
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khedrei
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Re: Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

Post by khedrei »

Northbound69 wrote: Mon Apr 13, 2026 12:29 pm
‘Bob’ wrote: Sun Apr 12, 2026 1:43 pm I don’t care. My company pays for it. They are better at lobbying than I am so they can deal with it. :lol:
I guess since you got yours, everyone else can pound sand?
Interesting you say that because that is exactly Bob's motto.
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Northbound69
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Re: Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

Post by Northbound69 »

digits_ wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2026 9:37 pm What a massive cockup is that website from a privacy point of view. You need to verify your email (makes sense) and then they publish it under the poster's messages.

The class action for that privacy violation alone should pay for our fees for a long time ;-)
I complained to the privacy commissioner of Canada, as well as TCs atip coordinator.

I don't know if that did it, but all the posts now show as anonymous!
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Last edited by Northbound69 on Mon Apr 27, 2026 7:43 am, edited 1 time in total.
digits_
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Re: Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

Post by digits_ »

Northbound69 wrote: Mon Apr 27, 2026 7:29 am
digits_ wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2026 9:37 pm What a massive cockup is that website from a privacy point of view. You need to verify your email (makes sense) and then they publish it under the poster's messages.

The class action for that privacy violation alone should pay for our fees for a long time ;-)
I complained to the privacy commissioner of Canada, as well as TCs atip coordinator.

All the posts now show as anonymous!
NIce!
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As an AvCanada discussion grows longer:
-the probability of 'entitlement' being mentioned, approaches 1
-one will be accused of using bad airmanship
cdnavater
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Re: Transport Canada Licensing Fees increasing

Post by cdnavater »

7ECA wrote: Thu Apr 09, 2026 11:09 am Completely unacceptable, and very convenient that TC sneaks in this consultation process with little to no notice to end-users.

I guess this is part of PM Carney's plan to make departments more self-sufficient, but the idea that any department can be totally reliant on end-users for operational funding is beyond ridiculous. We already saw fees for everything increasing by a minimum of 2%/year due to a decree by PM Trudeau a number of years back, which was barely palatable when there was zero increase in processing speed or services rendered.

Now to see TC proposing massive hikes in fees, is disheartening. And the idea that taxpayers are unfairly burdened by the current fee structure is a red herring argument at best. Taxes go towards the operating budgets of numerous departments that the vast majority of taxpayers have zero direct use for or need of service(s) from... that's just how this works. If you believe you should have the right to pick and choose what your tax dollars fund, you're delusional at best.
I’m curious, what departments are the vast majority of Canadians not using, I am drawing a blank on most.
I came up with Welfare.
Also, this is still only recovering 52%, versus the 18% they currently recover, so still funded by the taxpayers, just not as much.
Some of the fees seem steep but again, they are not going to fully capture the actual cost of doing business, looking at the other countries fees, wow, I guess we’ve been fairly lucky the last 25 years.
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