Order No. 2003-A-480
September 12, 2003
File No. M4210/W221-1
WestJet filed with the Canadian Transportation Agency (hereinafter the Agency) the notification set out in the title. The notification was received on May 12, 2003. Additional information was received on June 20 and August 27, 2003.
Under Licence No. 962156, WestJet is authorized to operate a domestic service, large aircraft.
Subsection 64(1) of the Canada Transportation Act (hereinafter the CTA) provides that where a licensee proposes to discontinue a domestic service or to reduce the frequency of such a service to a point to less than one flight per week and, as a result of the proposed discontinuance or reduction, there will be only one licensee or no licensee offering at least one flight per week to that point, the licensee shall give notice of the proposal in prescribed form and manner to such persons as are prescribed.
Pursuant to subsection 64(1.1) of the CTA, if a licensee proposes to discontinue its year-round non-stop scheduled air service between two points in Canada and that discontinuance would result in a reduction, as compared to the week before the proposal is to take effect, of at least 50 percent of the weekly passenger-carrying capacity of all licensees operating year-round non-stop scheduled air services between those two points, the licensee shall give notice of the proposal in the prescribed form and manner to the prescribed persons.
Subsections 64(1.2) and 64(2) of the CTA provide, inter alia, that as soon as practicable after giving notice, an opportunity must be given to elected officials of the municipal or local government of the community of the point or points, as the case may be, to meet and discuss with the licensee the impact of the proposed discontinuance, and the proposal to discontinue the service must not be implemented until the expiry of 120 days, or 30 days if the service has been in operation for less than one year, after the notice is given or until the expiry of any shorter period that the Agency may, on application by the licensee, specify by order.
Paragraph 14(1)(a) of the Air Transportation Regulations, SOR/88-58, as amended (hereinafter the ATR) provides that, for the purposes of section 64 of the CTA, a licensee shall give notice of a proposal to discontinue or reduce the frequency of a service to the Agency, to the Minister of Transport, and to the minister responsible for transportation in the applicable province. Additionally, paragraph 14(1)(b) of the ATR requires the licensee to advise holders of domestic licences operating in the area to be affected by the proposal and the persons resident therein by publishing a notice of the proposal in the local newspapers with the largest circulation in that area in each official language.
WestJet provided the Agency with copies of the letters sent to the Minister of Transport as well as the ministers responsible for transportation in the applicable provinces. WestJet also advised the Agency of the names and dates of the contacts with municipal leaders. Further, WestJet provided the Agency with the tear sheets for the published notices. However, the Agency notes that the notices were not published in both official languages as required by paragraph 14(1)(b) of the ATR.
The Agency finds that WestJet has contravened paragraph 14(1)(b) of the ATR. Therefore, given that WestJet proposes to discontinue the non-stop scheduled services on September 9 and 10, 2003 respectively, and given that the French language newspapers in each of the communities affected by the proposal are only published weekly, in order to adequately inform the Francophone residents of the affected communities of these proposals, the Agency considers it necessary that notification be published in French as soon as possible in the English language daily newspaper of each community and also in the French language weekly newspaper of each community.
Accordingly, pursuant to section 28 of the CTA, the Agency hereby orders WestJet to publish as soon as possible notification of the proposed discontinuance of service on the routes set out in the title in the prescribed form set out in Schedule III to the ATR, in French in the largest English language daily newspaper of each affected community and again in French in the largest French language newspaper of each affected community.
WestJet shall provide the Agency with copies of the tear sheets from all the newspapers in which the notices are published.
With respect to the contravention set out above, the issuance of this Order does not in any way preclude any actions that may be taken against the applicant pursuant to the CTA and the Canadian Transportation Agency Designated Provisions Regulations.
This Order takes effect as of September 3, 2003, the date on which its content was verbally communicated to WestJet.
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