It’s a new day in Canadian aviation, as WestJet has been cleared to take over Sunwing Vacations and Sunwing Airlines. But the Trudeau government is imposing conditions, and also is pledging to strengthen Canada’s weak airline passenger protection laws. Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra today announced that following Transport Canada’s assessment of the public interest, the Government of Canada has approved the acquisition of Sunwing Vacations and Sunwing Airlines by WestJet Airlines Ltd., subject to strict terms and conditions that are in the interest of Canadians. The minister said Ottawa’s assessment of the propsed deal incorporated the findings of the Read more
Trudeau
WestJet’s controversial takeover of Sunwing is set to be approved today by the Trudeau government. WestJet also has been given federal licenses for flights to Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore and Malaysia. The Globe and Mail this morning (March 10) reported that the announcement will be made today, providing WestJet with a huge increase in its share of the packaged vacation business. Calgary-based WestJet and Toronto-based Sunwing announced the proposed merger in March, 2022. The federal Competition Bureau later stated that the takeover would lead to fewer choices for Canadian travellers, and higher prices. The Globe story said the Trudeau Read more
Federal Auditor-General Karen Hogan will launch an audit of the Trudeau government’s controversial ArriveCan app, which skyrocketed from an initial cost estimate of $80,000 to a whopping $54 million. The Globe and Mail says the audit adds “a new layer of independent scrutiny” and follows a House of Commons vote last November that asked the Auditor-General to look into the issue. Liberal and Green Party MP’s voted against the idea. Federal politicians have been demanding answers since October, when The Globe and Mail first reported that the cost to build and maintain the travel-related app was on track to reach Read more
The Trudeau government is extending its testing requirements for visitors arriving in Canada from China and Hong Kong. Ottawa last night (Feb. 2) put out the following statement: In response to the increasing spread of COVID-19 and its variants in the People’s Republic of China and limited epidemiological and viral genomic sequence data available on these cases, the Government of Canada announced temporary pre-boarding test requirements and arrival screening effective January 5, 2023, for most travellers arriving on flights originating from the People’s Republic of China, Hong Kong or Macao. On February 4, 2023, at 12:01 a.m. EST, we are Read more
The federal government admits it spent nearly $400 million of taxpayer dollars over on its designated COVID-19 quarantine facilities during the pandemic. Figures supplied to the media by the Public Health Agency of Canada state that the government spent more than $388 million to run 38 designated quarantine sites across the country between March 2020 and September 2022. The facilities were consistently criticized as overpriced and badly managed, with people complaining bitterly about poor food, cold meals and crowded lobbies with would-be quarantine passengers mingling together. “DQF’s (Designated Quarantine Facilities) and alternate sites were active in a total of 14 Read more
