MPs meeting to discuss plans to hear from minister, CEOs on passenger treatment amid holiday chaos

The House of Commons committee that handles transportation issues is meeting to discuss launching a study into the treatment of Via Rail and airline passengers this holiday season.

The urgently-called meeting is focusing on MPs planning out who they will hear from as part of their work, and when further hearings will be scheduled. The committee has already asked Transportation Minister Omar Alghabra to appear and face questions directly about what transpired, and what accountability there will be.

Last week, Alghabra told CTV News that he would “be delighted” to have the opportunity to discuss the matter with his colleagues. In an email on Monday, his office confirmed that the minister will appear during an upcoming meeting.

“The Minister has always appeared at Committee when asked. He will be happy to appear and take the committee’s questions,” said his press secretary Nadine Ramadan.

Numerous passengers struggled to get to their destinations this holiday season amid widespread delays and cancellations, including a Via Rail train derailment resulting in cascading chaos, and hundreds of Sunwing passengers who were stranded in Mexico after the airline called off flights. 

This has renewed attention on Canada’s process for handling travel complaints, prompting the transport minister to say he’s now looking to strengthen the relatively new air passenger bill of rights.

“Hundreds of Canadians were stranded over the holidays due to extreme weather and poor customer care on the part of Canadian airlines and Via Rail. These difficulties add to the troubling treatment of air passengers during the pandemic,” reads the letter sent by Conservative and NDP MPs to committee chair and Liberal MP Peter Schiefke requesting this urgent hearing.

NDP transport critic and committee member Taylor Bachrach has previously said that he wants to hear from Alghabra, to learn “what steps he took during the crisis and plans to take in the future to protect passengers.”

Initially, the Liberals indicated a desire to call a meeting to hear from Sunwing and Via Rail about the “unacceptable” delays and cancellations.” Now, opposition MPs want to expand the committee’s work to hear from the CEOs of other major airlines too, as well as the airports now dealing with luggage backlogs. 

Sunwing has apologized for holiday travel disruptions, citing “clear failures in execution, particularly in responding to weather-related delays and the aftermath of severe weather disruptions.” They are now facing a potential class-action lawsuit over the December travel issues.

After long wait times and flight cancellations plagued Canadian travellers throughout most of the summer months, with reports of lost luggage and a lack of communication from airlines, minister Alghabra appeared confident that the winter holiday travel season would be smoother. 

The minister said that he had been working with the CEOs of major airlines, airports, and the Canadian Air Transport Security Authority, to ensure the busy season didn’t see the same kinds of issues that have plagued the sector since it’s tried to rebound from the COVID-19 pandemic.