Air Transat workers are calling for the Justin Trudeau government to ease travel restrictions.
“The airline sector is without a doubt one of the most restricted by federal public health regulations. Our members and passengers must be vaccinated, PCR tests are required before boarding a flight and a test is required upon arrival in Canada,” said Dominic Levasseur, president of the Air Transat Flight Attendant Union.
“These measures are extremely costly for travellers as well as for the government. If these measures are not eased out soon, hundreds of jobs are at risk in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver. The government’s management of our borders must be strongly challenged.”
On top of the restrictions, hundreds of millions of dollars of public money are being granted to private testing companies when these funds could be allocated to the healthcare system and to the airline and tourism sector, which are in desperate need.
“We ask our governments to act quickly to reduce sanitary restrictions at our borders. These excessive measures are strangling Canadian companies like Air Transat! Our demands are simple, we must facilitate the relaunch of our industry,” Levasseur added.
“Mr. Legault and Mr. Trudeau, help us!”
To this day, more than 60% of Air Transat flight attendants are still laid off.
Montreal’s tourism promotion agency is calling for a reopening plan for convention centres, The Brandon Sun report.
Manuela Goya, vice-president at Tourism Montréal, said major conferences scheduled to take place this summer are up in the air, and she said she worries if those events are cancelled, they might not return to Montreal for years.
“All we want is a reopening calendar — not a quick opening immediately,” she said in an interview Monday.
On Sunday, Montreal Mayor Valérie Plante also called on the provincial government and public health officials to provide a clear reopening plan for the cultural and events industries.
“This vagueness is intolerable,” she wrote on Facebook.
