A prominent Liberal in the Justin Trudeau government says he wants to hear from Sunwing and VIA Rail about the travel chaos that many Canadians endured over the holidays.
MP Peter Schiefke, the Member of Parliament for Vaudreuil-Soulanges in Quebec and chair of the federal government’s transportation and infrastructure committee, tweeted on Tuesday that both companies need to be held accountable for a disastrous holiday season.
Sunwing cancelled flights between Canada and Mexico a couple days before Christmas, leaving hundreds of Canadians stranded during the holidays. Passengers on a VIA Rail train headed from Ottawa to Toronto were forced to wait on board for some 18 hours after a tree collapsed onto the tracks.
“I will be convening a meeting of the Transport Committee and will be calling on VIA Rail and Sunwing to appear,” Schiefke stated on Twitter. “Canadians deserve answers for the unacceptable delays and cancellations seen over the holiday season.”
Transport Minister Omar Alghabra recently called airline delays and cancellations “completely unacceptable.”
Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre recently demanded that the Liberal government do more to hold airlines accountable for “breaking their word” to passengers and leaving them stranded in airports.
Major storms and bad weather in Western Canada and Ontario also forced holiday cancellations by WestJet and Air Canada. Lost bags also have been a big problem, with stacks of suitcases piling up at Toronto Pearson and other Canadian airports.
“Despite airline assurances that staff are working around the clock, anxious travellers have been left waiting hours, if not days, for everything from winter boots to Christmas presents,” The Toronto Star reports.
CHINESE GOVERNMENT BLASTS TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS
The Chinese government is harshly criticizing Canada, the United States and other nations for new travel restrictions slapped on visitors from China, Hong Kong and Macao. They’re also threatening unspecified countermeasures.
“We believe that the entry restrictions adopted by some countries targeting China lack scientific basis, and some excessive practices are even more unacceptable,” foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said at a press briefing.
“We are firmly opposed to attempts to manipulate the Covid measures for political purposes and will take countermeasures based on the principle of reciprocity.”
Canada, The United States, Japan, Australia and several other countries recently stated they’ll require negative pre-flight COVID tests from passengers arriving from China, Macao and Hong Kong.
“This is an approach that is based solely and exclusively on science,” US state department spokesperson Ned Price said on Tuesday.
