Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Tuesday the government will overhaul the airline passenger bill of rights in response to travellers’ claims that the system is fundamentally flawed.
Critics have dismissed the airline regulations as inadequate since they were introduced by the Liberal government in 2017. Until now, Ottawa has been reluctant to make any changes.
Major travel disruptions last summer — and a problem-plagued Christmas travel season — have made it clear that reforms are necessary to better protect passengers from airlines that don’t live up to their service standards, Alghabra told reporters on the sidelines of a federal cabinet retreat in Hamilton.
“Stay tuned — you’ll see action, you’ll see new tools introduced. Mark my words. I feel the frustrations of Canadians. I heard them. Canadians don’t want to see angry politicians, they want to see politicians take action,” he said.
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra speaks to the media at the Hamilton Convention Centre in Hamilton during the second day of meetings at the Liberal cabinet retreat. (Nick Iwanyshyn/The Canadian Press)
Alghabra said regulatory reform — and possibly new legislation — will be introduced this spring to bolster passengers’ rights. It will be one of the government’s priorities when Parliament resumes sitting next week, he said.
A major winter storm in the days before and after Christmas wreaked havoc on the travel industry, leaving passengers stranded as airlines cancelled hundreds of flights.
Sunwing, a leisure carrier that primarily serves passengers travelling to vacation destinations down south, left an untold number of passengers in Mexico when it suspended some routes. The disruptions prompted some 7,000 complaints to the airline from passengers who were left out-of-pocket by the delays.
While bad weather is hard to avoid in a country like Canada, Alghabra said changes are still necessary to make the travel experience more tolerable.
Over the holidays, passengers complained not only of weather-related delays but also inadequate communication from the airlines about rescheduled flights and lost bags.
Airlines can be expected to push back against any proposed changes.
During a heated House of Commons transport committee meeting earlier this month, officials from Air Canada, WestJet and Sunwing expressed frustration with how the regime operates. They argue other industry players, like government security agencies and airport authorities, should also be on the hook for compensating passengers for delays related to their operations.
“Each entity has an independent role to fulfil to make the system work, but airlines are the only ones with enforceable standards and financial obligations. There needs to be shared accountability,” David Rheault, Air Canada’s lobbyist, said at a Jan. 12 meeting of the transport committee.
Asked if Air Canada would support additional fines or penalties for airlines, Rheault said no.
“Our position is that the regulations need to be strengthened to take into account all stakeholders in air transport,” he said, adding that the current regulations have “very high penalties compared to those imposed by other countries.”
Alghabra said he’s not discouraged by the airlines’ stance. He said the government has “identified areas for improvement and we’re working on them.”
He said Canada is reviewing regulations in other jurisdictions such as the European Union, where passenger protections have been praised as more consumer-friendly.
In the EU, airlines are responsible for delays and cancellations in all but the most extreme circumstances — including disruptions caused by terrorism, sabotage, volcanic eruptions, airspace closures and freak weather.
The Canadian Transportation Agency, the semi-judicial body that was set up to adjudicate disputes between airlines and passengers, has been swamped by complaints; it now has a backlog of some 33,000 cases. The CTA has said it will take up to 18 months to review a complaint.
One possible fix is to shift the burden of proof from the passengers to the airlines.
Critics maintain that passengers are too often told by the airlines that they are not entitled to compensation when they really are. That has generated an avalanche of complaints to the CTA.
A regulatory change could force airlines to automatically compensate deserving passengers — rather than make them seek compensation from the airline and then turn to the CTA when a worthy claim is denied.
Canada’s frayed travel system has become a political issue for the government.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre posted a video on social media over the weekend blasting the Liberal government for its handling of air transportation issues in Canada.
“Flights are always late since you became prime minister,” Poilievre said in a video taped at Toronto’s Pearson Airport.
“This is the chaos we have at our airports,” he said, showing images of large crowds at the airport’s check-in counters.
In response, Alghabra said Poilievre has “a unique style of making videos and inflaming people’s emotions without offering any solutions.”
“Canadians don’t want to see angry politicians, they want to see politicians take action,” he said.
Quebec legislature member Youri Chassin has announced he’s leaving the Coalition Avenir Québec government to sit as an Independent.
He announced the decision shortly after writing an open letter criticizing Premier François Legault’s government for abandoning its principles of smaller government.
In the letter published in Le Journal de Montréal and Le Journal de Québec, Chassin accused the party of falling back on what he called the old formula of throwing money at problems instead of looking to do things differently.
Chassin says public services are more fragile than ever, despite rising spending that pushed the province to a record $11-billion deficit projected in the last budget.
He is the second CAQ member to leave the party in a little more than one week, after economy and energy minister Pierre Fitzgibbon announced Sept. 4 he would leave because he lost motivation to do his job.
Chassin says he has no intention of joining another party and will instead sit as an Independent until the end of his term.
He has represented the Saint-Jérôme riding since the CAQ rose to power in 2018, but has not served in cabinet.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 12, 2024.
MONTREAL – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will not be taking advice from Pierre Poilievre after the Conservative leader challenged him to bring down government.
“I say directly to Pierre Poilievre: I’m not going to listen to you,” said Singh on Wednesday, accusing Poilievre of wanting to take away dental-care coverage from Canadians, among other things.
“I’m not going to listen to your advice. You want to destroy people’s lives, I want to build up a brighter future.”
Earlier in the day, Poilievre challenged Singh to commit to voting non-confidence in the government, saying his party will force a vote in the House of Commons “at the earliest possibly opportunity.”
“I’m asking Jagmeet Singh and the NDP to commit unequivocally before Monday’s byelections: will they vote non-confidence to bring down the costly coalition and trigger a carbon tax election, or will Jagmeet Singh sell out Canadians again?” Poilievre said.
“It’s put up or shut up time for the NDP.”
While Singh rejected the idea he would ever listen to Poilievre, he did not say how the NDP would vote on a non-confidence motion.
“I’ve said on any vote, we’re going to look at the vote and we’ll make our decision. I’m not going to say our decision ahead of time,” he said.
Singh’s top adviser said on Tuesday the NDP leader is not particularly eager to trigger an election, even as the Conservatives challenge him to do just that.
Anne McGrath, Singh’s principal secretary, says there will be more volatility in Parliament and the odds of an early election have risen.
“I don’t think he is anxious to launch one, or chomping at the bit to have one, but it can happen,” she said in an interview.
New Democrat MPs are in a second day of meetings in Montreal as they nail down a plan for how to navigate the minority Parliament this fall.
The caucus retreat comes one week after Singh announced the party has left the supply-and-confidence agreement with the governing Liberals.
It’s also taking place in the very city where New Democrats are hoping to pick up a seat on Monday, when voters go to the polls in Montreal’s LaSalle—Émard—Verdun. A second byelection is being held that day in the Winnipeg riding of Elmwood—Transcona, where the NDP is hoping to hold onto a seat the Conservatives are also vying for.
While New Democrats are seeking to distance themselves from the Liberals, they don’t appear ready to trigger a general election.
Singh signalled on Tuesday that he will have more to say Wednesday about the party’s strategy for the upcoming sitting.
He is hoping to convince Canadians that his party can defeat the federal Conservatives, who have been riding high in the polls over the last year.
Singh has attacked Poilievre as someone who would bring back Harper-style cuts to programs that Canadians rely on, including the national dental-care program that was part of the supply-and-confidence agreement.
The Canadian Press has asked Poilievre’s office whether the Conservative leader intends to keep the program in place, if he forms government after the next election.
With the return of Parliament just days away, the NDP is also keeping in mind how other parties will look to capitalize on the new makeup of the House of Commons.
The Bloc Québécois has already indicated that it’s written up a list of demands for the Liberals in exchange for support on votes.
The next federal election must take place by October 2025 at the latest.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante is defending her decision to turn off comments on her social media accounts — with an announcement on social media.
She posted screenshots to X this morning of vulgar names she’s been called on the platform, and says comments on her posts for months have been dominated by insults, to the point that she decided to block them.
Montreal’s Opposition leader and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association have criticized Plante for limiting freedom of expression by restricting comments on her X and Instagram accounts.
They say elected officials who use social media should be willing to hear from constituents on those platforms.
However, Plante says some people may believe there is a fundamental right to call someone offensive names and to normalize violence online, but she disagrees.
Her statement on X is closed to comments.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 11, 2024.
