Skip to main content

Tourism minister says travel delays could be resolved in a 'matter of weeks'

Share

Canada’s Tourism Minister Randy Boissonnault says the federal government is focused on resolving the long delays travellers are experiencing at major airports in a “matter of weeks.”

Speaking to CTV’s Question Period, Boissonnault said he’s not pleased with the reports of Canadians waiting hours to get through regular travel checkpoints, specifically at Toronto Pearson International Airport.

“I’m going to be very blunt. I’m not happy with the situation. I don’t want Canadians waiting in lines. I don’t want international travellers stuck on the tarmac. We’ve got an issue, we need to fix it, and we’re leaning in on this hard,” he said.

Asked when travellers can expect to move with more ease, the minister said they’re working on getting the situation resolved before the arrival of the summer travel season.

“I want to see this done in a matter of weeks, not a half a year or a year…I want to make sure that this summer season is a summer season that people are going to remember for the experience that they have once they’ve left the airport, not a negative experience once they’re at the airport,” he said.

The federal government has sought to provide reassurance that the Canada Border Services Agency and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority are ramping up recruitment to be able to return to pre-pandemic staffing levels.

Individual airlines have also said they’re working on resolving staffing and scheduling hurdles.

However, Air Canada told CTVNews.ca that it intends to operate at 20 per cent less capacity this summer compared to its pre-pandemic summer schedule.

In a statement released on Wednesday, Ottawa said the vast majority of airports across the country are not seeing the same kind of delays as Pearson is but even then, recent improvements have been made.

“Only three per cent of all passengers at Pearson and Vancouver International Airport are now waiting more than 30 minutes in line,” reads the statement.

Opposition parties have called on the federal government to remove the remaining COVID-19 public health requirements at airports to alleviate what they call unnecessary pressure points.

On Friday, Transport Canada announced it was temporarily suspending mandatory randomized testing at all airports between June 11 and June 30 for the fully vaccinated. Unvaccinated travellers will still be tested on-site.

"The Government of Canada recognizes the impact that significant wait times at some Canadian airports are having on travellers. We continue to work with airports, airlines, baggage handlers, and other partners to implement solutions to reduce delays as we approach the summer peak season," a statement from the department reads.

As of July, all testing, including for unvaccinated travellers, will be performed off-site.

The federal government had already exempted international travellers with a connecting flight from random testing. Other measures, such as COVID-19 vaccine mandates and mandatory use of the ArriveCAN app, remain in place.

“We recognize that there is still work to be done, particularly for international arrivals at our largest airports, and we will continue to work with all orders of governments and partners to reduce the delays in the travel system,” the government said.

With files from CTV News’ Tom Yun.

IN DEPTH

Who is supporting, opposing new online harms bill?

Now that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau's sweeping online harms legislation is before Parliament, allowing key stakeholders, major platforms, and Canadians with direct personal experience with abuse to dig in and see what's being proposed, reaction is streaming in. CTVNews.ca has rounded up reaction, and here's how Bill C-63 is going over.

Opinion

opinion

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.

opinion

opinion Don Martin: ArriveCan debacle may be even worse than we know from auditor's report

It's been 22 years since a former auditor general blasted the Chretien government after it 'broke just about every rule in the book' in handing out private sector contracts in the sponsorship scandal. In his column for CTVNews.ca, Don Martin says the book has been broken anew with everything that went on behind the scenes of the 'dreaded' ArriveCan app.

CTVNews.ca Top Stories

Local Spotlight

Record-setting pop tab collection for Ontario boy

It started small with a little pop tab collection to simply raise some money for charity and help someone — but it didn’t take long for word to get out that 10-year-old Jace Weber from Mildmay, Ont. was quickly building up a large supply of aluminum pop tabs.

Stay Connected