Torstar News Service
One way Ottawa will make air travel easier is to ease backlogs at airport security checkpoints, Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced Thursday.
OTTAWA—The federal government is taking steps to make air travel cheaper and easier for passengers with reforms to encourage more airline competition and action to ease backlogs at airport security checkpoints.
Transport Minister Marc Garneau announced Thursday that Ottawa will allow foreign companies to own a greater share of Canadian airlines, a move he said would spur low-cost options for Canadians.
Foreign companies will be able to own 49 per cent of an airline in __canada — up from 25 per cent now. However, a single foreign investor or combination of investors will be capped at 25 per cent.
“We will set the conditions for lower fares and increased competition by changing the rules on ownership in Canada’s passenger airline industry,” Garneau said, according to a prepared text of his remarks.
“This will lead to more options for Canadians and allow the creation of new, low cost airlines in Canada,” he said.
And while Ottawa works on new legislation to reflect the changes, Garneau said he would issue exemptions to allow new upstart airlines — Canada Jetlines and Enerjet — to pursue international investments right away.
A review of the Canadian Transportation Act completed earlier this year had recommended boosting foreign ownership limits to 49 per cent for commercial passenger carriers and 100 per cent for freight and specialty airlines and ultimately move to remove foreign ownership restrictions entirely.
That review cited the “low level of competition and our relatively high airfares” as justification for the move.
Garneau also singled out what has become a big sore point for passengers, airports and airlines in recent months — long line-ups at airport security.
As passenger traffic swells, the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority — the agency that oversees airport security — has had trouble keeping pace, in part because the funding it gets from the federal government hasn’t kept pace either.
The transport minister acknowledged that Canada is falling short of the standards at international airports around the globe, such as London Heathrow, where passengers are whisked through security in 10 minutes or less.
“Too many Canadians are waiting too long . . . we need to do better,” Garneau said.
“We will work to set internationally competitive targets, allowing Canadian airports to keep up with hubs in other countries,” he said.
To do that, Garneau said he’d be looking at everything, from new equipment and technology to how CATSA is run and funded.
Garneau noted another common complaint among passengers: “frustration at the cost of air travel within Canada and the litany of fees and charges.”
Garneau said that Ottawa would be introducing the “air travellers’ passenger rights regime” to ensure the rights of fliers are protected by “fair and clear” rules.
The new rules will set out “clear” minimum requirements so that travellers will know when they are eligible for compensation, Garneau said.
That will include compensation for when passengers are denied boarding or baggage is lost or damaged.
On the rail front, Garneau said the government would introduce legislation next spring to make changes for a “more transparent, balanced and efficient” system.
Those changes will include how penalties are managed in the agreements between railways and customers, a new definition of “adequate and suitable service” and improved timelines for Canadian Transportation Agency decisions.
“Our government is also looking at the high-frequency rail service for travellers between Quebec City and Windsor,” Garneau said, offering no further details.
He also said the department would act on a recommendation from the transportation safety board to require the installation of audio-video recorders in locomotives to assist with accident investigations.
Looking ahead over the coming decades, Garneau predicts big changes as the transport sector — which he said accounts for nearly 25 per cent of all emissions of greenhouse gases — is made more energy efficient.
“The transportation system of Canada 2030 will be increasingly electrified, support alternative fuels such as hydrogen and will rely more and more on rail and renewable energy for more efficient aircraft,” Garneau said, citing Bombardier’s C-series jets as one example.
Garneau said that work will begin over the coming year, when he works with the provinces to hasten the shift to lower carbon modes of transport.
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