Hon. Omar Alghabra, P.C., M.P., Minister of Transport: Thank you, senator, for that question. The situation at our airports during the summer was unacceptable. The hours of delay, flight cancellations, shortage of labour and stories of people sleeping at airports were unacceptable.

Canadians saw that, because of the pandemic, there were significant layoffs in the aviation sector — not only in Canada but around the world. With the surge back in demand, labour shortages caused a significant impact on that operation. However, we didn’t hesitate, as a government, to step in and take action. We quickly worked with airports and airlines to identify some bottlenecks that we could immediately address. We have carried out several measures, including expediting the hiring of Canadian Air Transport Security Authority employees; working with NAV CANADA, the air traffic controllers, on identifying efficiencies; automatically renewing expired security access cards to airport workers; and working on other bottlenecks.

Today I’m happy to say that the performance is much better. It does compare to pre-pandemic levels, but we should never let these lessons learned go by without taking action. Soon I will be inviting stakeholders from airports to airlines to a summit where we will discuss lessons learned from this episode and find out what else we can do as an industry and as government to address these things so that we are much better prepared, much more efficient and much more competitive for Canadian travellers.

Hon. David M. Wells: Mr. Alghabra, on April 5 — almost eight months ago — Pivot Airlines crew on a layover in the Dominican Republic discovered and reported contraband to the RCMP and the Dominican police while preparing for a flight from the Dominican Republic to Canada. The crew was imprisoned, threatened and abused before being released on bail under the condition they remain in the country. The crew has not been charged or interviewed about the crime that they reported.

Transport Canada — your ministry — has in its possession video evidence that shows the direct involvement of unrelated third parties placing the contraband on the aircraft. This shows that the Canadian flight crews who travel to and from the Dominican Republic are clearly at risk. Canadian labour unions — Air Line Pilots Association, or ALPA, as well as CUPE and Unifor — have already advised their 70,000 airline members to exercise extreme caution when travelling to the Dominican Republic.

The Dominican Republic — and Canadian authorities by their inaction — are sending a clear message to all Canadian air crews operating flights to the Dominican Republic: Don’t look for contraband, and if you see it, don’t report it — just leave. If you report as the rules require, you will be detained indefinitely without charge — even when there’s clear video evidence showing your innocence.

Minister, with this evidence, what is your department, and the federal government, doing that will bring this crew — these Canadians — back home? Will Canada reconsider its bilateral agreement, that allows commercial flights between the Dominican Republic and Canada, pending the release of this crew?