TORY TRANSPORT CRITIC PUSHES FOR BETTER PLAN FOR AILING AIRLINE SECTOR.
‘Our sector continues to erode’
Conservative transport critic Stephanie Kusie says Canada’s struggling airline sector needs a “comprehensive plan” for surviving the coronavirus pandemic, which so far the federal government has failed to provide despite promises since May.
“Every other nation in the G7 has created a plan for the industry while our sector continues to erode,” she told the Financial Post on Tuesday.
Kusie, a Calgary MP and member of the Conservative Party of Canada’s shadow cabinet, said the priority of the Official Opposition is to see the introduction of systems such as “rapid testing and safe corridors” that have been implemented between Australia and New Zealand, and in parts of the European Union.
Such measures, which aim to limit the spread of COVID-19 by allowing travel where the disease appears to be under control, would “build passenger confidence” and hopefully help restore demand to pre- pandemic levels, she said. Pilot projects are planned or underway at airports in Calgary and Vancouver.
Asked whether direct financial aid should be in the package, Kusie said the opposition is still researching sector support implemented in “allied nations” and also studying market conditions “in an effort to determine the best form of support for the Canadian sector.”
The National Airlines Council of Canada, whose members including Air Canada, Westjet Airlines Ltd., Air Transat and Jazz Aviation LP., has called on the government for industry-wide support in the form of loans, loan guarantees, or direct assistance to maintain financial liquidity, and to ensure terms that minimize the medium and longer-term impact high debt levels will have on the sector’s competitiveness.
Specific support for airlines and other sectors hardest hit by efforts to contain the fast-spreading virus that causes COVID-19 — first discussed last spring by then-finance minister Bill Morneau — was again promised in September’s Throne Speech. Finance minister Chrystia Freeland has said the government is working on a sector-specific plan. Reports suggest aid could include a loan program and that the government has not ruled out the possibility of taking a stake in one or more of the struggling airlines as has been done in Germany with airline Deutsche Lufthansa AG.
“The government has not provided a set time frame on when it plans to address the needs of the sector, but all aviation stakeholders believe action is urgently required now, given the industry continues to lose jobs and communities across the country are continuing to lose service and frequency,” said Mike Mcnaney, chief executive of the The National Airlines Council of Canada.
“The longer it takes to implement this program, the longer these regional communities will suffer the economic consequences caused by a lack of connectivity to the rest of the country and globally.”
Mcnaney said that in addition to financial supports, the industry is urging the federal government to lead, coordinate and deliver a national testing strategy at Canadian airports building on the pilot projects.
Livia Belcea, press secretary to transport minister Marc Garneau, told the Financial Post the government is “fully seized with the issue of how hard the air sector has been hit by COVID-19” and is committed “to providing assistance to Canada’s air sector, so that it may continue to serve every region across our country.”
She said the sector is a “critical” part of Canada’s economy, but declined to lay out a timeline for relief.
One of Canada’s opposition parties, the Green party of Canada, has opposed any taxpayer- funded relief unless travellers whose trips were cancelled due to COVID-19 are given full cash refunds rather than the standard practice of providing vouchers for future travel. While the government has not weighed in, Westjet indicated this month it will be contracting affected travellers and offering refunds in a process that is expected to take up to nine months.
EVERY OTHER NATION IN THE G7 HAS CREATED A PLAN FOR THE INDUSTRY.