The authorities is granting Air Canada more flexibility over its maintenance work, proposing changes towards the three-decades-old laws that govern the airline after it agreed to purchase Bombardier Inc.’s CSeries jets.
The proposed amendments towards the 1988 Air Canada Public Participation Act, introduced Thursday by Transport Minister Marc Garneau, fulfill a promise made recently once the airline announced its plan to buy up to 75 CSeries from Bombardier.
At the time, Garneau told reporters he would aim to “clarify” the legislation that governs Air Canada to be able to take “to respond better to changing market conditions.”
Currently, the legislation is extremely specific about where Air Canada can maintain its aircraft, saying the airline is needed “to maintain operational and overhaul centres within the Town of Winnipeg, the Montreal Urban Community and also the City of Mississauga, (Ont.).”
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Under the amendment, Air Canada would still be required to perform some aircraft maintenance operate in each of the three provinces, but would be allowed to “change the type or volume of all or any of those activities in every of these provinces, as well as the degree of employment in almost any or all of those activities.”
The amendment would also give Air Canada more flexibility over in which the work is done, changing a provision that required the company to complete work in Winnipeg, Montreal and Mississauga, Ont., to Manitoba, Quebec and Ontario.
“It is important for that Government of Canada to permit airline carriers equal possibilities to compete within an evolving air sector,” Garneau said inside a statement.
“The changes introduced today derive from a well-balanced approach that will support job creation in aerospace across the nation.”
Air Canada said hello welcomed the opportunity for greater flexibility.
“It is definitely time the Air Canada Public Participation Act, dating from the company’s privatization nearly 3 decades ago, be modernized to recognize the reality that Air Canada is a private-sector company, of private-sector interests, which operates in a very competitive global industry which has undergone dramatic transformation over the past three decades,” CEO Calin Rovinescu said in a statement.
The question of where Air Canada maintains its aircraft has been a controversial one since Aveos Fleet Performance, which did the majority of the airline’s maintenance work, went bankrupt in 2012, eliminating 2,600 jobs.
The Quebec government filed a case that accused Air Canada of breaching its legal obligations if this transferred some heavy maintenance work away from country. The Quebec Court of Appeal sided using the government inside a ruling last November.
Then, in February, Quebec decided to drop the lawsuit in exchange for Air Canada’s agreement to maintain its new CSeries jets in the province not less than 20 years.
The Manitoba government also ended court proceedings following the airline signed a new maintenance agreement that’s expected to create at least 150 jobs within the province.
Currently, Air Canada outsources its maintenance work to two suppliers in Quebec, as well as providers in the U.S., Singapore, Ireland and Israel.
The Quebec Federation of Labour (FTQ) is seeking a permanent injunction to make the airline to keep all its maintenance work in Canada.
“Clearly, we are leading a fight for jobs against Air Canada, which would rather export them, and also the Trudeau government has announced which side from the battle it’s on: It’s taking Air Canada’s side,” FTQ president Daniel Boyer said in a statement.
kowram@nationalpost.com
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