Greater airline competition and better passenger protections will help Canada avoid the “catastrophe” experienced by travelers during the winter holiday season, Conservative Leader Pierre Poillievre says.
Speaking to Global News in Winnipeg on Friday, Poilievre said the federal government needs to step up regulation and enforcement of airlines, which he said feel they can “get away with mistreating” their customers.
“We had a winter before Justin Trudeau. We didn’t have an airline crash like we have now,” he said.
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Although severe winter storms played a role in flight delays and cancellations over the holidays, airlines and airports faced criticism for how they handled the disruptions, which left passengers waiting hours and even days for new flights and fighting for compensation for lost luggage.
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On Thursday, executives from Sunwing, WestJet and Air Canada apologized to Canadians as they testified before MPs on the House of Commons transportation committee, saying the winter weather had led to “complicated” disruptions.
During the commission’s hearing, Transport Canada chairman and CEO France Pégeot acknowledged that the independent regulator had never fined an airline for failing to provide compensation under the Air Passenger Protection Regulations, despite accumulating more than 30,000 complaints.
The agency can only issue fines of up to $25,000 under current legislation, which Transportation Minister Omar Algabra said he is working to improve.
“No wonder the airlines aren’t worried,” Poilievre said.
2:38 Poilievre blames Trudeau for Canada’s airport chaos, calls for federal accountability
He added that the federal government must become more productive to clear this backlog along with others affecting passports, immigration and other services that face long wait times.
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He did not say whether he would reduce the number of civil servants working in these departments, only that they should be better used given the amount of money it costs to pay them. He also criticized the Liberals’ “wasteful” spending on outsourcing, but did not say whether he would reduce or eliminate that spending.
“(Trudeau’s) personal incompetence means we pay more for less,” he said. “We need a competent prime minister with a bureaucracy that actually gets things done to serve the people.”
The Conservative leader said government money needed to be reallocated to a number of other key areas.
Instead of a federal carbon price, he said investment should be made in hydroelectric dams and nuclear power to make alternatives to traditional energy more affordable.
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He also wants the money from what the government calls an “assault-style” weapons ban — which includes language that conservatives, First Nations and sporting groups say unfairly targets some common models of hunting rifles — should be sent instead to “fortifying our borders” against drug trafficking, arms smuggling and other gang activity, and addiction treatment.
He said a “very clear recovery and treatment proposal” was coming from his party, which would provide federal funding to provinces to run addiction treatment programs.
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“It will deliver results” if passed, he said.
“We’re not just going to throw money around. I want beds, I want counselors, detox, drugs that will help with withdrawal and overdose – they will all be part of my plan. We will save the lives of our friends, our neighbors, our brothers and sisters who have fallen victim to this horrific addiction crisis.
1:20 Pierre Poilievre calls out Trudeau for contracts awarded to global consulting firm McKinsey
Local school inquiries will be funded
Poilievre also said the Conservative government would continue to fully fund investigations into former school sites to properly account for human remains and unmarked graves.
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His comments came a day after the Star Blanket Cree Nation in Saskatchewan reported that ground-based radar had detected more than 2,000 areas of interest at the site of the former Qu’Appelle Indian Residential School. A child’s bone was also found at the site.
The announcement is the latest in a series of discoveries at school sites across the country that have reignited conversations around reconciliation and Canada’s colonial past.
The federal government has provided millions of dollars in financial support to communities undertaking these searches, which Poilievre said he would continue if he becomes prime minister at the next election.
“We will fully fund all investigations into human remains at or near residential school sites,” he said.
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Poilievre said he wants to move beyond what he called the “symbolism, rhetoric and drama” of the Trudeau government’s reconciliation efforts and achieve real results, including ensuring all First Nation communities have access to safe drinking water .
As of Jan. 5, 33 long-term drinking water advisories remain in 29 communities, despite Liberal promises to remove all advisories by 2021. The government has since indicated that this will not be possible until 2025.
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“I would enter into a contract with the infrastructure companies and tell them that they don’t get paid until clean water is available, and part of their pay will depend on these clean water systems continuing to operate for years to come,” Poilievre said.
“They can’t just build the wrong system, get paid and run wild. They have to do their job.”
He also called the Indian Act a “racist colonial hangover” that he would allow First Nations to opt out of.
“I believe First Nations know what’s good for them and the problem in this country is the top-down colonial government in Ottawa that has imposed its will against the will of First Nations people,” he said.
© 2023 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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