Transport Minister Omar Alghabra (Mississauga-Erindale, ON) said a "full examination" is underway to determine what led to thousands of Canadian airline passengers being stranded over the holiday season. But he took little responsibility for his role in the crisis, blaming the airlines themselves and the bad weather.."Our government is not hiding. We are going to assume our responsibilities, and the industry must assume theirs. We will continue to work together so that this never happens again," Alghabra told the House of Commons Transport committee on Thursday..Numerous incidents over the holidays led to travel troubles for thousands of Canadians who failed to arrive at their destinations. Due to extreme weather events, many were forced to search for missing luggage or sleep in airports instead of spending time with their loved ones..While the airline executives that testified to the committee on Thursday admitted they failed travellers, many insisted they couldn't have foreseen or adequately prepared for the multitude of issues caused by the weather events. Some executives blamed outside factors, such as a shortage of de-icing fluid in Vancouver or a broken baggage system at Toronto's Pearson International Airport.."Air Canada went into the holidays well prepared. We were fully staffed, our people were trained, and our schedule was prudent," testified Kevin O'Connor, vice-president of Systems Operation Control at Air Canada.."We operated nearly 1000 daily flights on average. An Air Canada plane took off almost every 90 seconds of every day of the holidays. And we did this despite the extreme weather," he said..O'Conner said severe weather can "drastically impact" an airline's schedule, movement of people and luggage. A delay in one part of the country has a knock-on effect across our network, he said. But despite this, O'Connor highlighted the airline operated at 98% of international flights during the holiday period..Len Corrado, president of Sunwing Airlines, admitted the airline "failed to deliver." Hundreds of Sunwing passengers ended up stranded in Mexico after the airline called off flights.."While many of these factors were out of our control, I want to be clear with this committee and Canadians that our team immediately jumped into action to try to make things right for our customers," Corrado said. "We failed to deliver to the level we had expected, and that Canadians had expected from us over this holiday season.".Greater Toronto Airports Authority President and CEO Deborah Flint said what happened over the holiday season was a "perfect storm" of an industry still reeling from the impacts of COVID-19 restrictions being faced with "significant, epic bad weather."."Labour is still very weak across the board of our partners, cancellations due to weather have a compounding effect, leading to delays, backlogs and challenges with baggage," Flint said..During the committee, Alghabra was in the hot seat for his apparent lack of involvement in some aspects of the crisis. Conservative MP Leslyn Lewis (Haldimand-Norfolk, ON) slammed Alghabra for taking almost two weeks to meet with Sunwing following the snowstorm that stranded thousands of travellers. Sunwing CEO Len Corrado testified Alghabra didn't speak to the airline until Jan. 5, 2023, more than a week after the situation had already been resolved.."It is unacceptable that there was no government response during the crisis," Lewis wrote on Twitter..Conservative MP Luc Berthold (Mégantic-L'Érable, Que.) also asked where Alghabra was between Dec. 23, 2022 and Jan. 5, 2023, and asked if he intended to follow in Sunwing's footsteps and admit he was to blame. Alghabra responded, "What do you want me to be responsible for? The weather or Sunwing's bad decisions?"."I have been personally involved even during Christmas Day, Boxing Day, on a regular basis being informed and briefed on what's happening, providing direction. My office has been in touch with airlines and airports daily, sometimes more than once a day," Alghabra said. "None of the airlines, including Sunwing, were clueless as to my feelings and my expectations as to what was happening.".The airlines said they will be following their obligations under existing air passenger protection regulations. But they also spoke about broader reforms needed to improve the airline sector, such as redirecting hundreds of millions of dollars in taxes and fees taken from passengers away from the general federal revenue and towards improving transportation infrastructure..Alghabra said he was also frustrated by the situation and his department is already drafting changes that the federal government will bring before Parliament.."I commit to you that we are learning from the lessons of the last year, and that we are committed to clarifying, and strengthening, and simplifying rules," he said.
