Provinces, businesses urge Ottawa to prevent Air Canada work stoppage | Power & Politics

of course we've been following the a Canada situation closely we remain firm that the best deals happen at the bargaining table and that's where uh parties need to keep working uh the minister is actually going to be meeting with the parties uh today to impress on them the fact that millions of Canadians are counting on everyone to get this resolved well first it was Canada's ports then its Railways now Canada's largest airline is facing a possible major labor disruption Air Canada and its Pilots can't reach a contract deal notice of a strike or a lockout could come as early as Sunday affecting tens of thousands of air Travelers a day and all the cargo its planes carry newfa Labrador in particular is warning of a severe impact as Air Canada transports up to 4,500 people in and out of that Province every single day I travel every single week for work I could be anywhere across North America given that I fly out every Monday and come back home every Friday it would stop me in my tracks it's quite worrisome because I'm here and how will I get back a little F walk I'm pretty worried because I'm here for one conference and I'm flying on the 16th to another conference and I feel that I might get trapped in one place or the other what am I supposed to do we're stuck on an island so Steve Crocker is the Minister of Tourism and culture in Newland and Labrador and he joins me now Minister Crocker welcome to the show uh thanks David thanks for the invitation we we've heard from Air Canada we've heard from business groups they want the Federal federal government to intervene suggesting binding arbitration might be the best way to ensure There's No Interruption in in air travel and flight service in Canada what does the government of newf Labrador want the feds to do here yeah well David we're extremely concerned you know when you think about the challenges that this industry the hospitality industry uh in newth Atlanta Labrador over the last number of years obviously through co uh we can't sustain the industry can't sustain right now any further disruptions so you know we're you know we want the parties to come to you know an agreement you know we fully respect collective bargaining but the actual reality is here this industry that you know that I represent cannot handle another shutdown that's going to really you know end you know bring an end to our summer season and then really going into our fall season which is so important I've heard operators over the last number of days tell me that you know this will mean the difference in red and black for this for this year for you know are profitable or not profitable so you know we can't sustain another shutdown right now well we saw the federal government use binding arbit ation to deal with a railway dispute uh last month um but they've lost the NDP support uh since then with the ending of the supply and confidence agreement the Prime Minister said today the best deals are ones done at the bargaining table and even the conservatives have said that they support the pilots in their in their push for for better wages so How likely do you think any kind of Direct Federal intervention in this is at this point in time yeah you know that's certainly a decision of the federal government and I do as well I think the best deal is one at the bargaining table but again at the end of the day it's very important that you know the people that I represent the tourism industry the hospitality industry not only here in New labador but around Canada you know is heard here because this is detrimental this is the one industry that we could certainly argue hasn't fully recovered from Co and to take you know a 10 12 13 day shutdown right now because we all realize you know what the struggle is to get an the airline industry back up and running once you disrupt it you know we just can't have that this is going to mean a a lot of uh you know a lot of problems for a lot of people um have you spoken to anyone in the federal government about what their intentions are I know labor Minister Stephen McKinnon is still trying to keep things going between the parties and saying they can knuckle down and get a deal done but if you had any conversations with the federal government to give you a sense of what their intentions might be no no we haven't actually you know we respect this process and we don't want to be seen as you know being overburdensome and trying to intervene in a process until now when we realize that you know we're getting into the 11th Hour we're going to start soon start to see cancellations you know Air Canada brings bring you know has 4500 seats a day in Ando new fin Labrador that's substantial you know we've already lost conferences we've lost events we're hearing from hotel operators and others saying you know their phone is ringing and when it's ringing to say I'm sorry I need to cancel my booking okay because because that's an important point because we we heard from The Business Council of Canada and other groups today saying that even just a one-day strike it it takes so weak to recover from right um but that's more difficult when you're on an island on the edge of the continent and really the the events you're talking about here conferences conventions and the sort of the September October shoulder season of the tourism sector absolutely those just go away there's no recovering from that and delaying it like there are say in other businesses no you're absolutely correct once they leave they leave and if they're you know they're scheduled next year to be in some other part of the country you know they're going to move on to their schedule for next year so that's what we're hearing is that's exactly what we're losing right now is that type of September business and you know this is detrimental to the industry and I think you know the parties need to stay at the table they need to bargain but at the end of the day uh we just can't allow A disruption that's going to last you know a week or two weeks at this at this juncture so you mentioned that tourism is one of those sectors Minister that still hasn't recovered uh from the pandemic because um look as a guy who's from there and tries to go there it's hard to get there uh at a good price and and and with the Atlantic bubble and and the restrictions that were put in place to deal with covid-19 a lot of flights got rerouted a lot of planes got moved to other places and WestJet in particular has reduced her footprint there just how dominant is Air Canada in the air access to Newland and Labrador well 70% of the people that visit our Province visit by air uh you know 50,000 seats a month or in normal September there's 50,000 seats in from out Air Canada so double that in and out there's 100,000 seats so you can just imagine the impact on an economy the size of Newan and Labradors when you turn around and you have that number of people that will not be making that journey and to your point you know it this disruption if this disruption happens it won't be a one-day Affair it will be something that will last many many many days and will have detrimental impacts on a number of our businesses and and is there any capacity in the other airlines I know Porter has recently moved into that market provincial Airlines has increased its flight to to Eastern and central Canada but there's just there's nothing close to the capacity to to pick up any slack of Air Canada stops right no absolutely not there's not and if you think about you know we're unique as you mentioned you know we're we're an island that 70% of the people that come here come by air you know there's no idea if no one's going to get ready now at this juncture to drive the people that are coming here this time of year tend to stay shorter periods because they're business customers they conference people so no there is no opportunity to gain that capacity and I think unfortunately you know if we start losing seats uh they're lost forever okay uh Steve Crocker always good to speak with you Steve Crocker the minister of Tourism and culture in the government of New Finland and Labrador thank you sir for your time today thanks David well it's not just provinces Canadian business groups are calling on Ottawa to intervene to prevent a possible Air Canada strike or lockout saying it would be devastating for the national economy according to one estimate the cost of all those grounded flights will be about $98 million a day that's 1.4 4 billion if the strike lasts just two weeks Matthew Holmes is a senior vice president of policy and government relations at the Canadian Chamber of Commerce and he joins me now Matthew good to speak with you again thank you for taking the time good to see you David you heard what Minister Crocker had to say there in particular he's worried about one sector of one provincial economy that being tourism and Hospitality go bigger picture what's your biggest concern right now about a possible Air Canada stoppage of some sort well it's it's big I mean it hits uh you know most of the communities across the country in one way or the other it's a it's a I mean our air service and the multiplier of that of that sector is quite big we're talking uh 3.2% of national GDP is the airline sector and the related costs and and uh benefits they bring to the economy we've got over 600,000 jobs in Canada tied in some way to this sector and Air Canada is a major player so it affects our communities it affects people uh we're talking about Canadians stranded abroad we're talk talking about uh our trade relationship in in particular with the US uh we're talking about communities that can't can't get um medical supplies and those sorts of things that come Often by Air Cargo in a just in time fashion so uh it's it's pretty big and uh and as you've already covered uh you know even a day disruption can have serious consequences y your group uh the Canada Business Council and and a host of other uh uh industry associations have called for the federal government to intervene here we saw the government send the dispute with the rail uh issue to binding arbitration is that what you want to see here because the unions the new Democrats even the conservatives don't seem too on board with with that kind of a move well I think the the question we have to ask is is how long are we are we willing to go uh with with a stoppage like this and the consequences it represents for individual Canadians communities uh the rail stoppage uh and and the the concerns around that uh were you know throughout our supply chain um but this this affects individuals it affects communities uh this this really begins to shut down parts of our economy and uh the free movement of people I mean you heard Minister Crocker just talk about uh the consequences to one industry tourism and hospitality and that's a pretty serious one we're we're in Peak hospitality and tourist season for Canada and that's Canada hosting the world those are the people we bring in and welcome here but I'm currently in Colorado on a trade Mission uh of some of our members uh to the US and and we're hearing about it from us officials they're saying look what's going on we hear there's another possible strike we hear there's another possible stoppage uh uh of a critical part of your your infrastructure whether it's rail ports Airlines now uh it's it's being noted and and that begins to affect our reputation we did had an have an issue with WestJet earlier this year when they had a contract dispute with their mechanics it led to to the preempt of cancellation of a lot of flights and then eventual strike by those workers now it's potentially Canada the the deadline for a notification or the earliest we could see a notification for either a lockout or a strike of Sunday with then things being totally disrupted by Wednesday what's the window for the federal government to do something in your view well we think they need to move quickly we we want to see Swift intervention um I mean obviously we hope the two parties reach an agreement and we uh seriously hope that they are negotiating uh you know over the next few hours and and really trying to drive towards that that agreement that they can reach together um but I think the government needs to be ready needs to show leadership this is uh the you know this this is the public good that's at stake here in our opinion and and the government needs to take leadership on that and and protect the well-being of Canadians and communities so they need to be prepared quite quite frankly to move to binding arbitration and I have to say I think a lot of Canadians will agree that a neutral third party arbitrator can help determine what's fair here what's good for either party and both parties we don't know obviously the precise state of the discussions the negotiations though our Canada has said uh they're facing an unreasonable salary and financial demand from its Pilots so the pilots would point to the fact that they make far less than than pilots in the United States Stephen McKinnon the labor Minister was is apparently meeting with the two parties today and he has said he wants them to knuckle down and get a deal the Prime Minister said today that he thinks the best deals come at the bargaining table what do you take from the language we've heard from the Prime Minister and his labor Minister about how willing the federal government might be to take the actions you're you're requesting well we hope they're taking it seriously they're taking the community's well-being seriously they're taking the economic impact of this seriously and that they'll act accordingly and so I I'm not party to the negotiation uh and and the status of the the current talks um but I do hope and I and it's great to see Minister McKinnon there with the parties uh sending those messages but I do hope the government is prepared to act with leadership and with decisiveness if it comes to it because we're going to see stories of people stranded and and it won't take long for that to have a ripple effect that is hitting families hitting businesses and hitting communities yeah Stephen mckin has been the labor Minister about six weeks and he's already had trains and now he's got planes I don't know if he's happy about the new job or not but Matthew Holmes I'm happy you joined us today thank you so much that's Matthew Holmes with the Canadian Chamber of Commerce