N.B. education minister sparks conversation after calling for deregulation of airline industry
New Brunswick’s education minister took to Twitter over the weekend, commenting on something unrelated to his portfolio, but it's a topic Dominic Cardy says he has experience with.
"Atlantic Canada has worst commercial airline service of any place I’ve lived. Including Bangladesh & Nepal,” Cardy tweeted on Saturday. “We pay rip-off fares for flights late or cancelled. Canadian govt needs to deregulate the airline industry, like most countries did decades ago. Start the process. Now."
While at a luncheon event in Saint John Monday, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs was asked about the social media comments. He said, the last he checked, he didn’t believe Cardy is the transportation minister.
However, Higgs did say he suspected the comment was made out of frustration, because Cardy has been doing a lot of work trying to help Ukrainians fly into the country and province.
He was also sympathetic to the Canadian airline industry.
“My son-in-law's a pilot in a commercial airline and he tells me how difficult it is to get people -- not only pilots -- but getting people, baggage handlers, customers service,” Higgs said. “It's all a big problem and we're seeing it everywhere. With getting people back out of the pandemic, I mean nowhere was it more disruptive than the airline industry.”
Passengers flying through Canada's busiest airports are experiencing long lines, flight delays and cancellations. Experts believe most of the problems stem from staffing levels at customs and immigration desks, the surge in passenger traffic, as well as COVID-19 border measures.
The Canadian Airports Council says the industry is getting back to pre-COVID traffic levels incredibly fast.
“We have more flights, more carriers, more destinations in terms of Atlantic Canada, specifically New Brunswick, getting back to pre-COVID levels of traffic already for this summer,” said the interim president of Canadian Airports Council, Monette Pasher.
“So, I think you’re going to see a market that is served quite well, I think some of it’s even coming back faster than we anticipated.”
Pasher says there’s more ultra-low cost carriers in the Canadian market too – foreign ownership now sits at 49 per cent, up from 25 per cent.
She applauds the step taken by the federal government to suspend mandatory random COVID-19 testing at all airports for vaccinated travellers – which started Saturday and will remain suspended until June 30.
Atlantic Canadian airports can’t help but be affected by the problems plaguing Toronto’s Pearson, or other major airports in the country, says Fredericton International Airport Authority’s manager of public relations, Kate O’Rourke.
“When you're in the aviation world, everything is connected. So, the plane, obviously, is arriving or departing from here but then it's going to another airport. So, if our larger hubs are having some challenges, as they are right now, then that has a trickle-down effect to all of our airports,” she said.
New Brunswick just released a five-year air sector strategy, promising $4 million to study how to strengthen the industry in the province. Higgs said over a million trips made by New Brunswickers are from airports outside of the province, including the United States.
In follow-up comments on social media, Cardy said Atlantic Canadians shouldn't have to deal with “awful service and ridiculous prices.”
“If prices are high, there’s no excuse for the appalling service Atlantic Canadians endure,” he wrote.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Serial sexual offender linked to unsolved 1970s homicides of four Calgary girls, women
An investigation into unsolved historical homicides from the 1970s has linked the deaths of two girls and two young women in and around Calgary to a now-deceased serial offender.
Woman with liver failure rejected for a transplant after medical review highlights alcohol use
For nearly three months, Amanda Huska has been in an Ontario hospital, part of it on life support, because of severe liver failure. Her history of alcohol use is getting in the way of her only potential treatment: a liver transplant.
$500K-worth of elvers seized at Toronto airport
Fishery and border service officers seized more than 100 kilograms of unauthorized elvers at the Toronto Pearson International Airport on Wednesday.
Wildfires are dampening against cool, rainy weather, but there's plenty left to contain
An opportune system of cool, wet weather Friday is dampening the spread of wildfires across Western Canada, but there's still plenty of work for responders and residents alike.
Dabney Coleman, actor who specialized in curmudgeons, dies at 92
Dabney Coleman, the mustachioed character actor who specialized in smarmy villains like the chauvinist boss in '9 to 5' and the nasty TV director in 'Tootsie,' has died. He was 92.
Information commissioner faces $700K funding shortfall, says system is 'overwhelmed'
Canada's information commissioner says her office is facing a $700,000 funding shortfall that could impact its ability to investigate complaints about government transparency and accountability.
Backlash over NFL player Harrison Butker's commencement speech has reached a new level
The NFL is distancing itself from controversial comments by Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker during a recent commencement address.
Craig Berube named as next head coach of Toronto Maple Leafs
The Toronto Maple Leafs have named Craig Berube as their new head coach.
B.C. man 'attacked suddenly' by adult grizzly near Alberta boundary: RCMP
A B.C. man is recovering from multiple injuries after he was "attacked suddenly" by an adult grizzly bear near Elkford Thursday afternoon.