TRAN Committee Report

Study on the Canadian Transportation and Logistics Strategy

NDP Supplementary Opinion

The NDP supports the majority report of the Canadian Transportation and Logistics Strategy study, although it does not address the important issue of Transport Canada's designation of new airports. That is why we hereby wish to provide a complementary opinion to the report in order to cover this issue brought to the attention of the committee.

It is the NDP's view that the development of new airports is essential to provide Canada with an efficient airport infrastructure. Regional airports are an important economic development tool for the regions and are of particular interest to airlines wishing to develop new markets. The typical case of Trois-Rivières Airport is a good example. Mr. Jean Côté, Assistant Director General of Innovation and Economic Development Trois-Rivières, explained to the committee the importance the airport had for the Mauricie economy. He also told the committee the pitfalls that hampered its development, the main one of which concerns the designation of the airport by the federal authorities, in order to make it eligible for various customs and aviation security services. Regulations allowing airports to apply for official designation are recent and, according to Mr. Côté's testimony, it appears that the system in place has several shortcomings.

“On July 28, Transport Canada amended the regulations for the commercial airport designation process. This amendment now allows Trois-Rivières Airport to apply for the full services of the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority. [...] We have to wait to build the new terminal and Transport Canada comes to inspect and make recommendations or approve the designation of the airport for CATSA services, or the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority. [...] We already had some preliminary plans that I wanted to submit to Transport Canada before going into the plans and specifications to see if the room is big enough and all that. I was refused. We are waiting for it to be built to inspect afterwards. [...] This is the problem of the egg and the chicken. In Transport Canada's questionnaires for airport certification, one of the first questions we are asked is how many passengers a year there are. Here is the problem. We do not have one because we do not have an adequate terminal to accept passengers.”

-          Jean Côté, Assistant Director General of Innovation et développement économique Trois-Rivières

It seems that these various obstacles to the designation of new airports artificially slow down the development of the latter. These difficulties also create a risky investment environment for decision makers, as in the case described by Mr. Côté, where the Trois-Rivières airport authority must take the risk of building a terminal without a guarantee that it will meet the necessary standards for its designation later on. Considering that the federal government is also investing in the construction of this terminal, this lack of safeguards seems inconsistent and may cost taxpayers millions of dollars. Thus, the problems preventing the designation of new airports in Canada are more administrative, including lack of clarity, lack of support and some administrative inconsistencies.

In order to help Canadian airports and the economic community trying to develop their aerospace sector, particularly in situations such as Trois-Rivières, where the will of the community is unequivocal, the NDP proposes the following recommendation to the committee:

Recommendation 1

That the committee recommends that the federal government accelerate the designation of new airports in Canada by simplifying the designation process and by accompanying airports in this process.