Transport minister, airline and rail executives to appear before Commons committee looking into travel chaos

The House of Commons transport committee also wants to hear from airport authorities, passengers rights' advocates and passengers themselves

Nationalpost.com
Jan. 10, 2023
Ryan Tumilty

Airline and rail executives, along with Canada’s Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, will be called to a parliamentary committee to explain their roles in the travel chaos passengers experienced over the holidays that left many stranded.

MPs on the House of Commons transport committee met Monday and agreed unanimously on a witness list for a series of meetings to talk about the travel issues. Airline companies, like Sunwing, WestJet and Air Canada will be called, along with representatives from Via Rail. The committee also wants to hear from airport authorities, passengers rights’ advocates and passengers themselves.

Winter storms in British Columbia and across eastern Canada scuttled dozens of flights in the lead up to Christmas. Sunwing Airlines had major problems during those storms, leaving many Canadian travellers trapped in Mexico.

VIA Rail left hundreds of passengers stuck on the tracks after weather brought down a tree on the tracks just before Christmas. Conservative MP Mark Strahl said in addition to hearing from executives, the government should hear from Alghabra because he has ultimate authority over the system.

“We in the Conservative Party are tired of hearing Liberal ministers say that things are unacceptable when they have the power to make change. And that’s what we are wanting to get out of this meeting here today,” he said.

NDP MP Taylor Bachrach said it is clear that the government’s passenger bill of rights has not addressed the problems in the industry and something has to be done to resolve the issue.

“We need to address the larger context as well and that context is the fact that we have a failed system in Canada for dealing with passenger rights,” he said.

Passengers hit by long delays or cancellations have rights under Canadian law requiring airlines to offer compensation and refunds with the amounts depending on the circumstances of the delay. Airlines have pushed back against the rules and the Canadian Transportation Agency has more than 30,000 complaints from travellers who sought refunds and were refused.

Bachrach said Canada should follow the European model, which comes with tougher rules.

“We have a clear roadmap for making changes to the legislation and the regulations that would allow us to catch up with the example set by the European Union,” he said.

Alghabra said in advance of the meeting he has no problems attending and he has also said he is looking at ways to strengthen the passenger bill of rights.

Liberal MP Annie Koutrakis said the government shares everyone’s frustration that travel plans were scuttled.

“Canadians have had a rough few years going through the pandemic. Many were looking forward to a break in the holidays and a return to normalcy. I’m very disappointed that many had their plans altered or ruined,” she said.

She said the minister would be happy to attend, but said she hoped the focus would be on improving travel.

“This committee has a role to play in educating the public about what happened about holding the relevant organizations accountable, and in developing recommendations on how to avoid this from happening again.”

The committee will welcome its first witnesses on Thursday. It is not clear which witnesses will be the first to appear.