Proceedings of the Standing Senate Committee on
Transport and Communications

Issue No. 33 - Tenth Report of the Committee

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

The Standing Senate Committee on Transport and Communications has the honour to present its

TENTH REPORT

Your committee, to which was referred Bill C-49, An Act to amend the Canada Transportation Act and other Acts respecting transportation and to make related and consequential amendments to other Acts, has, in obedience to the order of reference of December 8, 2017, examined the said bill and now reports the same with the following amendments:

1. Clause 14, pages 7 and 10:

(a) On page 7,

(i) add the following after line 18:

"(3.1) The factors that the Minister may consider to determine whether a proposed arrangement raises significant considerations with respect to the public interest under subsection (6) and, if applicable, to render a final decision regarding the arrangement under subsection 53.73(8), include the arrangement's effects on

(a) competition;

(b) air carriers;

(c) air service;

(d) aviation safety;

(e) the environment; and

(f) passengers.'', and

(ii) add the following after line 24:

"(5.1) Within 10 days after the day on which he or she receives the notice with the information referred to in subsection (2), the Minister shall make public a summary of the proposed arrangement that does not include any confidential information. The Minister shall give interested persons at least 20 days to present observations, in writing, on the significant considerations with respect to the public interest that the proposed arrangement raises.''; and

(b) on page 10, replace line 9 with the following:

"53.77 (0.1) Every two years after the day on which an arrangement is authorized, the Minister shall review the arrangement to determine the concerns, if any, that it raises with respect to the public interest and competition.

(1) The Minister may, at any time after the sec-''.

2. Clause 15, page 13: Replace line 13 with the following:

"owned directly or indirectly by one or more non-Canadians authorized''.

3. Clause 17, page 13:

(a) Replace lines 28 to 33 with the following:

"67.3 The Agency may, to the extent that it considers it''; and

(b) replace line 35 with the following:

"of the same flight all or part of its de-''.

4. Clause 18, page 14:

(a) Replace lines 17 to 21 with the following:

"Agency receives a written complaint,''; and

(b) replace lines 23 and 24 with the following:

"to some or to all passengers of the same flight, all or part of the Agency's decision''.

5. Clause 19, pages 15 and 16:

(a) On page 15,

(i) add the following after line 26:

"(d.1) respecting the carrier's obligation to make the terms and conditions of carriage of the body of a deceased person or other human remains readily available to passengers in language that is simple, clear and concise;'',

(ii) replace line 31 with the following:

"tarmac delays over 90 minutes, including the obliga-'', and

(iii) add the following after line 38:

"(1.1) The Agency shall, after consulting with the Minister, make regulations in relation to flights within Canada, respecting the carrier's obligation to provide services in both official languages.''; and

(b) on page 16, add the following after line 11:

"86.12 (1) Three years after the day on which this section comes into force, and every five years afterwards, the regulations made under section 86.11 shall be reviewed by any committee of the Senate, of the House of Commons or of both Houses designated or established for that purpose.

(2) The committee shall, as soon as possible after the review is completed, submit to Parliament a report on the review.''.

6. Clause 23, page 18: Replace lines 6 to 8 with the following:

"(1.01) The Agency may, of its own motion, conduct an investigation to determine whether a company is not fulfilling any of its service obligations.

(1.1) For the purpose of an investigation conducted under subsection (1) or (1.01), the Agency shall allow a company at least 20 days to file an answer and, in the case of an investigation conducted under subsection (1), at least 10 days for a complainant to file a reply.''.

7. Clause 29, pages 22 to 24:

(a) On page 22, replace line 32 with the following:

"the movement of the shipper's traffic in the reasonable direction of the traffic and its destination;'';

(b) on page 23, replace line 24 with the following:

"in Canada and is in the reasonable direction of the shipper's traffic and its destination;''; and

(c) on page 24, add the following after line 26:

"(5) For the purpose of paragraph 3(b), an interchange located in the metropolitan area of Montreal is deemed to be the nearest interchange and to be located outside the Quebec - Windsor corridor if

(a) the point of origin or destination of the movement of the shipper's traffic is located in New Brunswick or Nova Scotia; and

(b) the shipper has access to the lines of only one class 1 rail carrier at the point of origin or destination.''.

8. Clause 46, page 37:

(a) Replace line 3 with the following:

"46 (1) Subsection 161(2) of the Act is amended by''; and

(b) add the following after line 7:

"(2) Subsection 161(2) of the Act is amended by striking out "and'' at the end of paragraph (d), by adding "and'' at the end of paragraph (e) and by adding the following after paragraph (e):

(f) the request of the shipper, if any, for the Agency to determine the variable costs of the movement of goods to which the arbitration relates.

(2.1) The Agency shall, at the request of the shipper made in accordance with paragraph (2)(f), determine and provide to the parties, within 10 days after the day on which it refers the matter for arbitration under subsection 162(1), the variable costs of the movement of goods to which the arbitration relates.''.

9. New clause 59.1, page 42: Add the following after line 22:

"59.1 (1) Schedule II to the Act is amended by replacing "Bean (except soybean) derivatives (flour, protein, isolates, fibre)'' with "Bean derivatives (flour, protein, isolates, fibre)''.

(2) Schedule II to the Act is amended by replacing "Beans (except soybeans), including faba beans, splits and screenings'' with "Beans, including faba beans, splits and screenings''.''.

10. Clause 62, pages 44 and 47:

(a) On page 44,

(i) replace lines 10 to 14 with the following:

"for the purpose of determining the causes and contributing factors of'', and

(ii) delete lines 20 to 22; and

(b) on page 47, replace line 3 with the following:

"that information, its collection, its preservation, its destruction, its''.

Your committee has also made certain observations, which are appended to this report.

Respectfully submitted,

DAVID TKACHUK
Chair

Observations

The committee heard witnesses from the Canadian National Institute for the Blind and the Council of Canadians with Disabilities, who discussed the barriers that people with disabilities face when accessing air transportation services. For example, people with disabilities may face particular challenges with long tarmac delays as well as with the carriage of their mobility equipment and service animals.

The committee would therefore encourage the Canadian Transportation Agency to include stakeholders representing people with disabilities in its public consultations regarding the development of regulations to implement an air passenger bill of rights.