A Petition in Parliament to save Canadian Aviation

[Gilles Hudicourt]

https://petitions.ourcommons.ca/en/Peti ... 5_qSHgAaQg

Petition to the Government of Canada
Whereas:
Canada’s aviation industry continues to be negatively impacted by the unprecedented COVID-19 pandemic. As the industry continues to struggle, aviation workers continue to be severely impacted with hundreds of thousands of highly skilled Canadian workers under threat of job loss;
The almost complete shutdown of the industry has made flight operations increasingly expensive and industry restart will be complex. Jobs in the industry will take several years to return, or worse, will disappear altogether;
Government measures, such as the recommendation to Canadians to avoid non-essential travel, border closures and mandatory 14-day quarantine on all travelers entering the country, combined with a lack of sector-specific financial support, jeopardize the sustainability of the Canadian aviation industry and offer an advantage to foreign airlines who receive massive financial support from their governments; and
COVID emergency programs, such as the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy, have assisted Canadian aviation workers but have stopped short of providing the necessary support to Canadian airlines.
We, the undersigned, aviation workers and other concerned citizens of Canada, call upon the Government of Canada to:
1. Implement an aviation-specific financial sustainability program with strong labour protections that provides direct support to airlines that have been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic;
2. Lead and implement a national aviation strategy in relation to the recovery of the airline industry from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic to ensure the stabilization and continued viability of the aviation sector in Canada; and
3. Implement a sustainable approach to safe border controls that uses a dynamic, rigorous approach to ensure the border measures match the risk profile of the countries from which the travelers are arriving.

[Gino Under]

I hate to sound so negative, but...
The current demand on the public purse is being excessively strained as it is. While it's a good idea to help save the 'industry', it's going to be the greatest challenge we've ever faced in this country's aviation history. With the number of 'industries' in the country also needing financial aid from the government, I don't see the hoped for assistance arriving any time soon.
Oil and Gas are just as important to the economic engine in this country as the airlines. I haven't seen much in the way of financial assistance to that industry. But, that's me.
Our airlines are going to have to move on with whatever financial reality they face and see what happens. Things are that desperate.
The $10 billion in government aid Lufthansa received in May is not having the desired effect for Lufthansa as their cuts continue.
Our 'industry's' fate lies exclusively in the hands of those who manage our air carriers.
Some of them are likely to fail.
I agree with Mr. Giguere's comments yesterday in Ottawa. This is going to take one hell of an effort to recover the 'industry' if Ottawa drops the ball.

Stay safe. Hope for a miracle we get through this real soon with no air carrier failures.

cheers,
Gino Under

[Launchpad1]

At the moment, unfortunately, the airline industry (in fact all travel related industries) are kind of like a money pit house. You can throw endless amounts of money at it and it'll just soak it up.

There's a limited supply of money the government has and it has to spend it in the best way possible. Cews is a good thing, it keeps people at their companies in various industries and makes it that much easier to ramp things up again when the need returns.

Even the US appears to be letting the market dictate what happens to their travel industry.

The best thing we can hope for is that Biden wins their election and then they can get this virus undercontrol so that the economy and travel demand picks up.

[ozone]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/17/kevin-o ... s-aid.html

Kevin O’Leary: Don’t give airlines any more coronavirus relief money, we don’t need all of them

He gives a pretty good take on simple economics. Very unfortunate what’s happening but we all need to face reality at some point. It’s going to be a long time before things are back to where they were before. Bailouts will not be a long term solution.

[mbav8r]

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/09/17/kevin-o ... s-aid.html

Kevin O’Leary: Don’t give airlines any more coronavirus relief money, we don’t need all of them

He gives a pretty good take on simple economics. Very unfortunate what’s happening but we all need to face reality at some point. It’s going to be a long time before things are back to where they were before. Bailouts will not be a long term solution.

However, he is referring to the US airlines, who’ve already received 25 Billion.
This is also something to take away from it,
“Entrepreneur John Hope Bryant, who is founder and CEO of the financial literacy organization Operation Hope, said he believes in O’Leary’s premise that a free market should decide the winners and losers. However, he stressed the public-health crisis is a difficult operating environment for business, especially airlines. He said there would be benefits in providing aid that allows the carriers to retain workers.

“In 2020, early 2021, yes, give them support,” he said on “Squawk Box,” appearing with O’Leary. “Let them fail in a market economy. This is a pandemic.”“