MPs calling minister, airlines, and passengers to testify as part of holiday travel chaos study
The House of Commons committee that handles transportation issues has agreed to launch a special study into the treatment of air and rail passengers this holiday season and will be calling on officials from the major airlines and Via Rail, as well as Transport Minister Omar Alghabra, to testify.
At an emergency meeting on Monday—called for by opposition MPs—committee members unanimously agreed to start this study before the House is scheduled to resume on Jan. 30. The first hearing will take place on Thursday and is expected to see the minister field a series of questions about what transpired and what accountability there will be.
Numerous incidents led to passengers struggling to get to their destinations this holiday season amid widespread delays and cancellations, including a Via Rail train derailment resulting in cascading chaos and hundreds of Sunwing passengers being stranded in Mexico after the airline called off flights.
MPs will also be calling on representatives from Sunwing, Air Canada and WestJet; authorities from the Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver airports; Via Rail and CN Rail; the Canadian Transportation Agency and Transport Canada; as well as air passenger advocates and affected travellers to testify.
While this special set of hearings will focus on the period between December 2022 and January 2023, the committee will be incorporating its findings into a broader ongoing review underway on air passenger rights, as the debacle has given renewed attention on Canada's process for handling travel complaints.
The agreement to embark on this study came after MPs took turns sharing their dismay over what transpired for travellers this holiday season.
"Many of our constituents had their holiday plans disrupted or ruined, and spent long periods of time in airport or hotel lobbies, or in train cabins waiting for updates that were too slow in coming," said committee chair and Liberal MP Peter Schiefke during Monday's meeting. "Thousands of individuals and families had particularly miserable experiences that were compounded by futile attempts at trying to get clear explanations or trying to secure compensation for the time and money that they spent."
He added: "Although weather delays are a part of winters in Canada, some of the poor service travellers received cannot be explained solely by weather."
Last week, Alghabra told CTV News that he would "be delighted" to have the opportunity to discuss the matter with his colleagues. In an email on Monday, his office confirmed that the minister will testify.
In an interview on CTV News Channel's Power Play with Vassy Kapelos on Monday, Alghabra said that in light of what transpired during the holiday travel season, he's hoping to table proposed changes to strengthen the relatively new air passenger bill of rights in the next few months.
"The minister has always appeared at Committee when asked. He will be happy to appear and take the committee's questions," said his press secretary Nadine Ramadan.
At Monday's meeting, MPs spoke about how the committee has a role to play in helping Canadians understand what happened and what their rights are, to hold those responsible accountable beyond the explanations and apologies given by some transportation companies so far, and to seek assurances that similar issues won't happen again.
"We need to situate this discussion not only in the context of the travel chaos that happened over the holidays … But 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," said NDP transport critic and committee member Taylor Bachrach, noting that there are currently more than 30,000 complaints before the Canadian Transportation Agency.
"I very much look forward to Thursday's meeting ... I look forward to getting answers on behalf of the hundreds of Canadians who were stuck in such difficult situations over the holidays. And, I hope through the work of this committee, we can improve Canada's air passenger protections for once and for all, so that no one has to face these kinds of experiences again," Bachrach said.
Initially, the Liberals indicated a desire to call a meeting to hear from Sunwing and Via Rail about the "unacceptable" delays and cancellations," but opposition MPs pushed to expand the committee's work.
"We in the Conservative Party are tired of hearing Liberal ministers say that things are 'unacceptable' when they have the power to make change … So we need to get to the bottom of this, here at this committee. We are the body that is charged with holding the department, holding the minister accountable on behalf of all parliamentarians and on behalf of all Canadians, so we intend to take that work seriously," said Conservative transport critic and committee vice-chair Mark Strahl.
Sunwing has apologized for holiday travel disruptions, citing "clear failures in execution, particularly in responding to weather-related delays and the aftermath of severe weather disruptions." The airline is now lawsuit over the December travel issues.
After long wait times and flight cancellations plagued Canadian travellers throughout most of the summer months, with reports of lost luggage and a lack of communication from airlines, minister Alghabra appeared confident that the winter holiday travel season would be smoother.
The minister said that he had been working with the CEOs of major airlines and airports, as well as the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, to ensure the busy season didn't see the same kinds of issues that have plagued the sector since it has tried to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.
"We were promised, quite frankly, by the Liberal minister, that these matters were addressed … Clearly, it has not been fixed," Strahl said. "Canadians deserve better, and it's up to this group to make sure that we get the answers that we deserve."
On Monday, Alghabra sought to defend his past remarks, saying that what was seen over the holiday season with "extreme weather events" was very different than last summer's "crush of travellers."
IN DEPTH
Jagmeet Singh pulls NDP out of deal with Trudeau Liberals, takes aim at Poilievre Conservatives
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh has pulled his party out of the supply-and-confidence agreement that had been helping keep Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's minority Liberals in power.
'Not the result we wanted': Trudeau responds after surprise Conservative byelection win in Liberal stronghold
Conservative candidate Don Stewart winning the closely-watched Toronto-St. Paul's federal byelection, and delivering a stunning upset to Justin Trudeau's candidate Leslie Church in the long-time Liberal riding, has sent political shockwaves through both parties.
'We will go with the majority': Liberals slammed by opposition over proposal to delay next election
The federal Liberal government learned Friday it might have to retreat on a proposal within its electoral reform legislation to delay the next vote by one week, after all opposition parties came out to say they can't support it.
Budget 2024 prioritizes housing while taxing highest earners, deficit projected at $39.8B
In an effort to level the playing field for young people, in the 2024 federal budget, the government is targeting Canada's highest earners with new taxes in order to help offset billions in new spending to enhance the country's housing supply and social supports.
'One of the greatest': Former prime minister Brian Mulroney commemorated at state funeral
Prominent Canadians, political leaders, and family members remembered former prime minister and Progressive Conservative titan Brian Mulroney as an ambitious and compassionate nation-builder at his state funeral on Saturday.
Opinion
opinion Don Martin: Gusher of Liberal spending won't put out the fire in this dumpster
A Hail Mary rehash of the greatest hits from the Trudeau government’s three-week travelling pony-show, the 2024 federal budget takes aim at reversing the party’s popularity plunge in the under-40 set, writes political columnist Don Martin. But will it work before the next election?
opinion Don Martin: The doctor Trudeau dumped has a prescription for better health care
Political columnist Don Martin sat down with former federal health minister Jane Philpott, who's on a crusade to help fix Canada's broken health care system, and who declined to take any shots at the prime minister who dumped her from caucus.
opinion Don Martin: Trudeau's seeking shelter from the housing storm he helped create
While Justin Trudeau's recent housing announcements are generally drawing praise from experts, political columnist Don Martin argues there shouldn’t be any standing ovations for a prime minister who helped caused the problem in the first place.
opinion Don Martin: Poilievre has the field to himself as he races across the country to big crowds
It came to pass on Thursday evening that the confidentially predictable failure of the Official Opposition non-confidence motion went down with 204 Liberal, BQ and NDP nays to 116 Conservative yeas. But forcing Canada into a federal election campaign was never the point.
opinion Don Martin: How a beer break may have doomed the carbon tax hike
When the Liberal government chopped a planned beer excise tax hike to two per cent from 4.5 per cent and froze future increases until after the next election, says political columnist Don Martin, it almost guaranteed a similar carbon tax move in the offing.
CTVNews.ca ÐÇ¿Õ´«Ã½
Recall issued for 38,000 GM vehicles in Canada over software safety glitch
Transport Canada has issued a recall for 38,000 General Motors (GM) vehicles for safety risks related to a software glitch, the agency reported in a notice on Wednesday.
Israeli military says around 10 senior Hezbollah commanders killed along with Aqil
About 10 senior Hezbollah commanders were killed along with Ibrahim Aqil, leader of the movement's Radwan special forces unit who was attacked in an Israeli air strike in Beirut on Friday, Israel's military spokesperson said.
11-year-old boy dies after subway surfing in NYC
An 11-year-old boy died Monday after subway surfing in New York City. He's the fourth person to die from subway surfing in the city this year.
Since she was a young girl growing up in Vancouver, Ginny Lam says her mom Yat Hei Law made it very clear she favoured her son William, because he was her male heir.
Secret Service report details communication failures preceding July assassination attempt on Trump
Communication breakdowns with local law enforcement hampered the Secret Service's performance ahead of a July assassination attempt on former U.S. president Donald Trump, according to a new report that lays out a litany of missed opportunities to stop a gunman who opened fire from an unsecured roof.
Canadians say they fear they've been scammed out of thousands of dollars by car moving company
An Ontario man says he’s still waiting for a vehicle he purchased on Kijiji to be delivered to his home. But after more than a month, he says he’s losing hope that the car will arrive and believes that he is a victim of a scam.
An Ontario man says it is 'unfair' to pay a $1,500 insurance surcharge because his four-year-old SUV is at a higher risk of being stolen.
DEVELOPING Here's what we know about Israel's latest strike in Beirut
Israel’s military has struck the southern suburbs of Beirut, Lebanon’s capital, in a dramatic escalation in a year-long period of conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.
The province's public security minister said he was "shocked" Thursday amid reports that a body believed to be that of a 14-year-old boy was found this week near a Hells Angels hideout near Quebec City.
Local Spotlight
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. In the case of Darren Cropper, from Bonfield, Ont., his three-year-old Siberian husky and golden retriever mix named Bear literally saved his life.
A growing group of brides and wedding photographers from across the province say they have been taken for tens of thousands of dollars by a Barrie, Ont. wedding photographer.
Paleontologists from the Royal B.C. Museum have uncovered "a trove of extraordinary fossils" high in the mountains of northern B.C., the museum announced Thursday.
The search for a missing ancient 28-year-old chocolate donkey ended with a tragic discovery Wednesday.
The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is celebrating an important milestone in the organization's history: 50 years since the first women joined the force.
It's been a whirlwind of joyful events for a northern Ontario couple who just welcomed a baby into their family and won the $70 million Lotto Max jackpot last month.
A Good Samaritan in New Brunswick has replaced a man's stolen bottle cart so he can continue to collect cans and bottles in his Moncton neighbourhood.
David Krumholtz, known for roles like Bernard the Elf in The Santa Clause and physicist Isidor Rabi in Oppenheimer, has spent the latter part of his summer filming horror flick Altar in Winnipeg. He says Winnipeg is the most movie-savvy town he's ever been in.
Edmontonians can count themselves lucky to ever see one tiger salamander, let alone the thousands one local woman says recently descended on her childhood home.