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China wants more Canada flights after COVID-19 turbulence, despite tour-group ban

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OTTAWA –

Beijing and Ottawa are in talks aimed at increasing flights between China and Canada, following American deals and the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions, but diplomatic spats and the aviation sector’s gradual pace of change could prolong the turbulence.

“It’s a political problem; I don’t think it’s a one-day solution or that we’ll have the green light right away,” said Glynnis Chan, a longtime Vancouver travel agent.

She says economy-class flights to China are costing her clients three times the price they paid in 2019. “They’re very frustrated,” she said.

Transport Canada says the weekly number of flights between the two countries has dropped drastically, from more than 100 per week in the summer of 2019 to just 10 per week this season.

The existing Canada-China air transport agreement allows each country 76 passenger flights per week, for distribution among their respective airlines.

At the peak of the summer 2019 travel period, Transport Canada said Chinese airlines operated 76 flights to Canada per week from various cities, while Air Canada operated 35 flights per week to Beijing and Shanghai combined as the sole Canadian carrier flying to the country at that time.

But now, Air Canada operates just four flights a week to Shanghai, while Chinese airlines fly six weekly passenger flights to Canada.

The decline stems from China’s strict COVID-19 rules, which up until January included caps on foreign flights and frequent quarantines and testing for visitors.

Helane Becker, an airline analyst for investment firm Cowen, says those “very onerous” rules made global airlines break up their flights, making stops in places like South Korea, Hong Kong or the Philippines to rotate crews. That way, staff could stay on the plane without entering the terminal.

“A lot of the airlines made the decision that they couldn’t have their crews trapped in China for 14 days,” she said. Now, with the restrictions lifted, there is still no direct flight between China and Canada.

Meanwhile, Russia has retaliated against western sanctions by banning commercial airlines from countries such as Canada and the U.S. from using its airspace. That has forced Canadian airlines to avoid the North Pole, instead taking a longer, costlier arc over Alaska and Japan.

In May and June, Washington allowed Chinese airlines more flights to the U.S., reportedly in exchange for those routes avoiding Russian airspace. Becker said this prevents Chinese airlines from undercutting American competitors through faster, cheaper flights.

Air Canada CEO Michael Rousseau highlighted the issue during an Aug. 14 earnings call.

“It’s difficult to have flights from Eastern Canada — Toronto and Montreal, primarily — to China without using a Russia overflight,” he said. “We’d like to see that market come back. It was a strong market for us pre-pandemic.”

The airline hopes to restore daily flights to Shanghai and to Beijing — both from Vancouver — in the “medium term,” Air Canada’s head of revenue and network planning, Mark Galardo, said on the call.

But beyond the logistics, Beijing and Ottawa have ramped-up rhetoric, particularly after months of reported allegations of Chinese meddling in Canadian elections.

In May, the Liberals expelled a Chinese diplomat over an alleged plot to intimidate a Conservative MP, and the Trudeau government has been accused of turning a blind eye to foreign interference.

China’s government rejects those claims, as well as reporting by Canadian journalists and Ottawa’s corporate ethics czar about alleged forced labour among China’s Uyghur minority.

This month, China lifted a pandemic ban on group tours to numerous countries but kept its tourists effectively barred from group visits to Canada.

China’s embassy in Ottawa said the move was due to the Trudeau government having “hyped up” the issue of foreign interference, and said an uptick in anti-Asian discrimination put Chinese citizens in Canada at risk.

Chan says her sector needs the added demand of tour groups to convince airlines to offer more flights. For now, there’s a scramble for the few available flights from Vancouver to China, which used to cost just over $1,000 for an economy round-trip ticket and now often cost more than double that.

“In peak seasons the airline ticket can jump to $4,000 or $6,000 or something like that. It’s just crazy,” she said.

Chan, who launched her company Happy Times Travel four decades ago, said many of her competitors specializing in China risk going out of business.

“The most important issue is our two countries, how they (can) establish a good relationship, in order to get more flights back,” she said.

Chan said politicians have a right to express their views, but warned the rhetoric coming from government and opposition MPs in Ottawa puts Beijing on edge.

“It doesn’t bring a good harmony or peace of mind for the Chinese government to let their citizens visit Canada,” Chan said.

Both countries say they’re in talks to increase the number of flights, with Ottawa hinting it might seek a deal similar to the U.S. arrangements with China.

“The reopening of the Canada-China air transport market is being assessed, and Canadian officials are in discussions with Chinese counterparts on this issue,” wrote Transport Canada spokeswoman Sau Sau Liu.

“Canada’s objective is that air services are added to this market in a manner that will both meet passenger demand and offer an equitable and competitive operating environment for the air carriers of both countries.”

The Chinese embassy in Ottawa says it’s eager to get a deal signed.

“We hope that the Canadian side could work together with the Chinese side to facilitate the exchanges between our two peoples,” a spokesman wrote.

“The Canadian business community, a great number of Chinese companies in Canada, scholars and students from both countries have expressed that direct flights between China and Canada are insufficient, making air tickets expensive, which affects the normal people-to-people exchanges of our two countries.”

Becker said there was a lag in Canadian demand for flights to Europe, with a 2023 travel boom coming a year after the continent lifted COVID-19 restrictions. She suspects Asia’s delayed reopening will lead to more flights in 2024.

“The demand for it will certainly be there,” Becker said. “Business travellers especially, who haven’t seen their clients or their factories for three years, want to get back to business.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 25, 2023.

With files from Chris Reynolds in Montreal

 

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‘Disgraceful:’ N.S. Tory leader slams school’s request that military remove uniform

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says it’s “disgraceful and demeaning” that a Halifax-area school would request that service members not wear military uniforms to its Remembrance Day ceremony.

Houston’s comments were part of a chorus of criticism levelled at the school — Sackville Heights Elementary — whose administration decided to back away from the plan after the outcry.

A November newsletter from the school in Middle Sackville, N.S., invited Armed Forces members to attend its ceremony but asked that all attendees arrive in civilian attire to “maintain a welcoming environment for all.”

Houston, who is currently running for re-election, accused the school’s leaders of “disgracing themselves while demeaning the people who protect our country” in a post on the social media platform X Thursday night.

“If the people behind this decision had a shred of the courage that our veterans have, this cowardly and insulting idea would have been rejected immediately,” Houston’s post read. There were also several calls for resignations within the school’s administration attached to Houston’s post.

In an email to families Thursday night, the school’s principal, Rachael Webster, apologized and welcomed military family members to attend “in the attire that makes them most comfortable.”

“I recognize this request has caused harm and I am deeply sorry,” Webster’s email read, adding later that the school has the “utmost respect for what the uniform represents.”

Webster said the initial request was out of concern for some students who come from countries experiencing conflict and who she said expressed discomfort with images of war, including military uniforms.

Her email said any students who have concerns about seeing Armed Forces members in uniform can be accommodated in a way that makes them feel safe, but she provided no further details in the message.

Webster did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

At a news conference Friday, Houston said he’s glad the initial request was reversed but said he is still concerned.

“I can’t actually fathom how a decision like that was made,” Houston told reporters Friday, adding that he grew up moving between military bases around the country while his father was in the Armed Forces.

“My story of growing up in a military family is not unique in our province. The tradition of service is something so many of us share,” he said.

“Saying ‘lest we forget’ is a solemn promise to the fallen. It’s our commitment to those that continue to serve and our commitment that we will pass on our respects to the next generation.”

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill also said he’s happy with the school’s decision to allow uniformed Armed Forces members to attend the ceremony, but he said he didn’t think it was fair to question the intentions of those behind the original decision.

“We need to have them (uniforms) on display at Remembrance Day,” he said. “Not only are we celebrating (veterans) … we’re also commemorating our dead who gave the greatest sacrifice for our country and for the freedoms we have.”

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said that while Remembrance Day is an important occasion to honour veterans and current service members’ sacrifices, she said she hopes Houston wasn’t taking advantage of the decision to “play politics with this solemn occasion for his own political gain.”

“I hope Tim Houston reached out to the principal of the school before making a public statement,” she said in a statement.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Saskatchewan NDP’s Beck holds first caucus meeting after election, outlines plans

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REGINA – Saskatchewan Opposition NDP Leader Carla Beck says she wants to prove to residents her party is the government in waiting as she heads into the incoming legislative session.

Beck held her first caucus meeting with 27 members, nearly double than what she had before the Oct. 28 election but short of the 31 required to form a majority in the 61-seat legislature.

She says her priorities will be health care and cost-of-living issues.

Beck says people need affordability help right now and will press Premier Scott Moe’s Saskatchewan Party government to cut the gas tax and the provincial sales tax on children’s clothing and some grocery items.

Beck’s NDP is Saskatchewan’s largest Opposition in nearly two decades after sweeping Regina and winning all but one seat in Saskatoon.

The Saskatchewan Party won 34 seats, retaining its hold on all of the rural ridings and smaller cities.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 8, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

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Nova Scotia election: Liberals say province’s immigration levels are too high

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HALIFAX – Nova Scotia‘s growing population was the subject of debate on Day 12 of the provincial election campaign, with Liberal Leader Zach Churchill arguing immigration levels must be reduced until the province can provide enough housing and health-care services.

Churchill said Thursday a plan by the incumbent Progressive Conservatives to double the province’s population to two million people by the year 2060 is unrealistic and unsustainable.

“That’s a big leap and it’s making life harder for people who live here, (including ) young people looking for a place to live and seniors looking to downsize,” he told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

Anticipating that his call for less immigration might provoke protests from the immigrant community, Churchill was careful to note that he is among the third generation of a family that moved to Nova Scotia from Lebanon.

“I know the value of immigration, the importance of it to our province. We have been built on the backs of an immigrant population. But we just need to do it in a responsible way.”

The Liberal leader said Tim Houston’s Tories, who are seeking a second term in office, have made a mistake by exceeding immigration targets set by the province’s Department of Labour and Immigration. Churchill said a Liberal government would abide by the department’s targets.

In the most recent fiscal year, the government welcomed almost 12,000 immigrants through its nominee program, exceeding the department’s limit by more than 4,000, he said. The numbers aren’t huge, but the increase won’t help ease the province’s shortages in housing and doctors, and the increased strain on its infrastructure, including roads, schools and cellphone networks, Churchill said.

“(The Immigration Department) has done the hard work on this,” he said. “They know where the labour gaps are, and they know what growth is sustainable.”

In response, Houston said his commitment to double the population was a “stretch goal.” And he said the province had long struggled with a declining population before that trend was recently reversed.

“The only immigration that can come into this province at this time is if they are a skilled trade worker or a health-care worker,” Houston said. “The population has grown by two per cent a year, actually quite similar growth to what we experienced under the Liberal government before us.”

Still, Houston said he’s heard Nova Scotians’ concerns about population growth, and he then pivoted to criticize Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for trying to send 6,000 asylum seekers to Nova Scotia, an assertion the federal government has denied.

Churchill said Houston’s claim about asylum seekers was shameful.

“It’s smoke and mirrors,” the Liberal leader said. “He is overshooting his own department’s numbers for sustainable population growth and yet he is trying to blame this on asylum seekers … who aren’t even here.”

In September, federal Immigration Minister Marc Miller said there is no plan to send any asylum seekers to the province without compensation or the consent of the premier. He said the 6,000 number was an “aspirational” figure based on models that reflect each province’s population.

In Halifax, NDP Leader Claudia Chender said it’s clear Nova Scotia needs more doctors, nurses and skilled trades people.

“Immigration has been and always will be a part of the Nova Scotia story, but we need to build as we grow,” Chender said. “This is why we have been pushing the Houston government to build more affordable housing.”

Chender was in a Halifax cafe on Thursday when she promised her party would remove the province’s portion of the harmonized sales tax from all grocery, cellphone and internet bills if elected to govern on Nov. 26. The tax would also be removed from the sale and installation of heat pumps.

“Our focus is on helping people to afford their lives,” Chender told reporters. “We know there are certain things that you can’t live without: food, internet and a phone …. So we know this will have the single biggest impact.”

The party estimates the measure would save the average Nova Scotia family about $1,300 a year.

“That’s a lot more than a one or two per cent HST cut,” Chender said, referring to the Progressive Conservative pledge to reduce the tax by one percentage point and the Liberal promise to trim it by two percentage points.

Elsewhere on the campaign trail, Houston announced that a Progressive Conservative government would make parking free at all Nova Scotia hospitals and health-care centres. The promise was also made by the Liberals in their election platform released Monday.

“Free parking may not seem like a big deal to some, but … the parking, especially for people working at the facilities, can add up to hundreds of dollars,” the premier told a news conference at his campaign headquarters in Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 7, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax

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