Alghabra vows to reform passenger rights regulations, announces $76M to address traveller complaints
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra said Tuesday he’s planning to close a loophole in air passenger protections that allows airlines to deny travellers compensation in certain instances. He also announced nearly $76 million to help deal with the massive backlog of air passenger complaints.
Thousands of Canadians had their travel plans disrupted over the winter holidays, with many left stranded at various airports, and others saying there was little to no communication from airlines, forcing them to scramble to make plans.
For flight delay compensation in Canada, airlines are obligated to compensate passengers for cancellations or delays within their control, except when there are safety concerns — for example a mechanical malfunction — in which case they must try to rebook or refund customers, but do not have to compensate them for the inconvenience.
Alghabra told reporters Tuesday there are plans to table legislation in the spring to make further changes to the air passenger rights regime — first passed in 2019 and updated last September — to close the loophole and prevent airlines from claiming safety concerns to avoid compensating passengers.
“We are working on strengthening and clarifying the rules to ensure that we make a distinction,” Alghabra said. “Obviously we don't want planes to fly when it's unsafe to do so, but there are certain things that are within the control of the airlines, and we need to have clear rules that put the responsibility on the airlines when it's their responsibility.”
At an emergency House of Commons committee meeting in January, airline executives laid the holiday season delays largely at the feet of extreme weather, while Alghabra testified at the time about what he considered to be "unacceptable" passenger treatment, telling MPs that protocols "clearly" need to be reviewed.
“The events of the past few months have resulted in a record number of complaints to the [Canadian Transportation Agency], and these complaints must be answered as quickly as possible,” Alghabra told reporters Tuesday.
Long wait times and mass cancellations also plagued Canadian travellers over the summer months, and by the time the winter holiday season came and went, the passenger rights complaints backlog had ballooned to more than 36,000.
While complaints to the CTA are meant to be a last resort, the agency reported that 6,395 were filed between late December and mid-January.
Alghabra said the “huge” backlog is now at more than 42,000 complaints. According to the CTA, the agency has received more than 39,000 complaints in the last year alone.
Alghabra told CTV’s Power Play host Vassy Kapelos in an interview Tuesday the average number of complaints to the CTA spiked during the COVID-19 pandemic, culminating last summer and over the winter holidays, to become the “avalanche” it is now.
And now, the federal Liberals are handing over millions to help address the issue.
The new funding — which will be distributed over three years — is aimed at bolstering CTA resources to deal with the backlog, namely by hiring 200 additional staff to work through the complaints.
Alghabra said while the backlog won’t be eliminated “overnight,” the new funds will help process complaints more quickly, and he expects the added resources will more than double the CTA’s current capacity to deal with complaints.
“I want Canadians to feel confident that we're taking action that the CTA is doing whatever they can to process these complaints as quickly as possible,” Alghabra said, when pressed by reporters on whether the new funds will actually eliminate the backlog, and why travellers should trust the government to fix the problem.
He said his government earmarked $11 million last year to reduce the backlog, but that the current level of complaints is too large, and now there’s “an opportunity here to fundamentally reform the system so passengers are better protected, but also the process of complaints are dealt with more efficiently.”
“Obviously, I can't control at what speed the legislation that we introduce will pass,” Alghabra added, when asked whether Canadians can feel confident booking summer travel this year.
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre told reporters Tuesday that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “should be accountable for the terrible treatment that our passengers are getting under his watch.”
He also said Trudeau should push for more competition in the airline industry, and that he should ensure complaints are handled and penalties handed out more quickly.
With files from CTVNews.ca’s Senior Digital Parliamentary Reporter Rachel Aiello and The Canadian Press
IN DEPTH
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.
'Democracy requires constant vigilance' Trudeau testifies at inquiry into foreign election interference in Canada
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau testified Wednesday before the national public inquiry into foreign interference in Canada's electoral processes, following a day of testimony from top cabinet ministers about allegations of meddling in the 2019 and 2021 federal elections. Recap all the prime minister had to say.
As Poilievre sides with Smith on trans restrictions, former Conservative candidate says he's 'playing with fire'
Siding with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith on her proposed restrictions on transgender youth, Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre confirmed Wednesday that he is against trans and non-binary minors using puberty blockers.
Supports for passengers, farmers, artists: 7 bills from MPs and Senators to watch in 2024
When parliamentarians return to Ottawa in a few weeks to kick off the 2024 sitting, there are a few bills from MPs and senators that will be worth keeping an eye on, from a 'gutted' proposal to offer a carbon tax break to farmers, to an initiative aimed at improving Canada's DNA data bank.
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 Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.
Local Spotlight
'It looked so legit': Ontario man pays $7,700 for luxury villa found on Booking.com, but the listing was fake
An Ontario man says he paid more than $7,700 for a luxury villa he found on a popular travel website -- but the listing was fake.
Investigating the tale of Winnipeg's long-running mystery bookstore
Whether passionate about Poirot or hungry for Holmes, Winnipeg mystery obsessives have had a local haunt for over 30 years in which to search out their latest page-turners.
'Love has no boundaries': Sask. couple in their 90s and 80s get married
Eighty-two-year-old Susan Neufeldt and 90-year-old Ulrich Richter are no spring chickens, but their love blossomed over the weekend with their wedding at Pine View Manor just outside of Rosthern.
Twin Alberta Ballet dancers retire after 15 years with company
Alberta Ballet's double-bill production of 'Der Wolf' and 'The Rite of Spring' marks not only its final show of the season, but the last production for twin sisters Alexandra and Jennifer Gibson.
Video shows gaggle of geese stopping traffic on Highway 1 near Vancouver
A mother goose and her goslings caused a bit of a traffic jam on a busy stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway near Vancouver Saturday.
B.C. mayor stripped of budget, barred from committees over Indigenous residential schools book
A British Columbia mayor has been censured by city council – stripping him of his travel and lobbying budgets and removing him from city committees – for allegedly distributing a book that questions the history of Indigenous residential schools in Canada.
Three Quebec men from same family father hundreds of children
Three men in Quebec from the same family have fathered more than 600 children.
Here's how one of Sask.'s largest power plants was knocked out for 73 days, and what it took to fix it
A group of SaskPower workers recently received special recognition at the legislature – for their efforts in repairing one of Saskatchewan's largest power plants after it was knocked offline for months following a serious flood last summer.
Quebec police officer anonymously donates kidney, changes schoolteacher's life
A police officer on Montreal's South Shore anonymously donated a kidney that wound up drastically changing the life of a schoolteacher living on dialysis.