A telecom discounter best known for its celebrity endorsement by ex-Leafs enforcer Tie Domi is under federal investigation for misleading advertising. Evidence submitted to a federal judge by the Competition Bureau includes copies of a Comwave Networks Inc. ad with the former NHL strongman: “You don’t have to be Tie Domi to stand up to the big guys!”
Air passenger complaints to the Canadian Transportation Agency account for a small fraction, less than a hundredth of one percent, of the number of actual passengers, according to new data. The Agency said it received 396 complaints against Air Canada and WestJet last year; the two airlines carry some 40 million passengers a year, by official estimate.
“The system is broken,” said Dr. Gábor Lukács, a Halifax-based passenger rights advocate; “These complaints are minuscule. I think the main problem is the government has stalled any efforts to see an actual passengers’ rights bill in Canada.”
The Agency in its 2015 Annual Report to cabinet said it received only handfuls of complaints against other Canadian carriers including 19 at Porter Airlines; 29 at Sunwing; and 66 against Air Canada’s Jazz subsidiary. More than 122 million passengers get on and off aircraft each year in Canada, according to a 2013 StatsCan report Air Carrier Traffic At Canadian Airports.
“Contrary to what the Agency says, complaints procedures at the Agency are very complicated,” Lukács said. “Self-represented passengers are at a clear disadvantage, and retaining a lawyer is difficult since the Agency does not provide for costs.”
“The Agency is not doing its job,” Lukács said. “It is complacent though it has all the tools. It should be investigating compliance issues on its own initiative.”
Lukács attributed the low rate of complaints in part to collegiality between regulator and industry. Simona Sasova, Agency management of enforcement, in 2014 cross-examination in a federal lawsuit initiated by Lukács described cordial relationships with airline executives: “Is it your practice to be on a first-name basis with executives of corporations against whom you take enforcement actions?” Sasova was asked. “Yes,” she replied; “It is a common practice.”
Typical air passenger complaints to the regulator include lost or damaged baggage and flight disruptions. In its Annual Report the Agency noted the number of complaints it received last year against Canadian carriers actually rose from the year before, and numbered only 301 in 2013: “The increase in the number of complaints submitted about Canadian air carriers could be due, in part, to the public’s awareness of the Agency’s dispute resolution services stemming from media coverage and Agency outreach efforts around significant Agency decisions.”
More Like 50,000 Complaints
However internal documents earlier obtained under Access To Information confirm the Agency is aware it hears of only a tiny fraction of valid service issues, and does not even have statistical data to monitor airlines performance. Staff in a confidential Assessment Of Air Passenger Level Of Service Indicators In Canada complained they have no “official data” on flight delays, misplaced baggage or overbookings since airlines are not required to publish performance records. “Very few publicly-available level of service indicators – government or private sector – are available in Canada,” Assessment noted.
Complaints to the Agency are likely only “two-thousands of one percent” of actual service issues, Assessment noted: “Agency staff report that an Air Canada representative suggested the carrier received around 20,000 complaints annually but this anecdotal report is now dated and was for a single air carrier only. Lacking firm data, a range of between 20,000 and 50,000 annual air passenger complaints to Canadian airlines is not an unreasonable estimate.”
“Although air carriers do not publish data on the number of complaints they receive, the U.S. Department of Transportation estimates that for every complaint they receive, the air carriers receive around 50,” Assessment continued. “Although there are significant differences between the two jurisdictions, applying the same ratio to Canada results in an estimate of approximately 40,000 complaints in 2010-11.”
Parliament in 2013 defeated private New Democrat Bill C-459 An Act Respecting The Rights Of Air Passengers that would have mandated compensation of up to $1,000 for travelers affected by flight cancellations or delays. The Agency’s Assessment memo acknowledged Canada is one of the few countries without legislation on passenger rights and minimum statutory compensation for delays, flight cancellations and denial of boarding.
By Tom Korski 
Canadian National Railways has seen a lawsuit thrown out of court after years of delays. The Supreme Court refused to hear the railway’s appeal of dismissal in the case involving industrial contaminating dating from the 1920s: “One day some horses got stuck in a gooey substance they could not get out of so they had to be shot”.
Telecom regulators are again mulling some method to curb “spoofing”, a technique by unlicensed telemarketers to bypass call-display technology. Regulators have seen “a significant number of complaints” involving camouflaged ID by marketers, said the CRTC: “It is annoying and in some cases dangerous”.
The anti-trust Competition Bureau is investigating a celebrated joint venture between Air Canada and state-run Air China of Beijing. Investigators in Federal Court documents questioned whether the agreement will see the two carriers monopolize their transpacific routes: ‘It may reduce the incentive to introduce new service’.
A paper-thin federal surplus may still be salvageable if cabinet quickly defers billions in spending, says an economist. The Parliamentary Budget Office yesterday shredded cabinet’s claim of a $1.4 billion surplus this year – the first balanced budget since 2007: ““Troops, if you’re expecting those bullets anytime soon, you’ll have to wait until next fiscal year”.
A Canadian-based patent owner is suing Netflix in Federal Court alleging breach of intellectual property on cryptography. Copy Protection LLC of Kanata, Ont. claims the internet TV service used its proprietary technology to prevent illegal downloading. Netflix has not yet filed a statement of defence: “There is no denying that technological innovation is redefining the very definition of broadcasting’.
An employee sacked after an angry sales meeting has won benefits but no “moral damages” in a dispute at Atlantic Canada’s largest Ford dealership. Tense confrontations at work do not necessarily justify compensation for mental suffering, ruled the Supreme Court of Newfoundland & Labrador: ‘A less sensitive person may have reacted differently’.
The defence department has issued 70 pages of specifications for new camouflage screens. A contract notice included details on how to write an instruction manual for using the small tarps – one page only, Concise Oxford English – and a requirement that screens mustn’t be made from PCBS. Canada outlawed the manufacture of polychlorinated biphenyls in 1977: ‘No cracking, peeling or flaking’.
The impact of new anti-piracy legislation has been marginal more than six months after the bill was signed into law, says a trademark attorney. Witnesses at parliamentary hearings had warned the bill was flawed and costly: “They have only started a few cases”.
A confidential memo shows cabinet is counting the days to see if Canada’s economy reaches a first-ever benchmark of $2 trillion before an expected October 19 election. Deputy Finance Minister Paul Rochon warned of “the uncertainty over predicting the exact time at which this will occur.”
Industry Canada has written off more than $303 million in bad loans to corporations since 2006, according to accounts released through Access To Information. The department refused to name companies in default: “If Canadians knew more we could see for once how inefficiently these programs are run”.
Canada’s provinces must cut a total $28 billion a year, every year, for decades to come if debt levels are to be sustainable, says the Parliamentary Budget Office. Only three provinces – British Columbia, Saskatchewan and Québec – now have balanced budgets: “Measures have to be taken”.
Companies face increases of up to 34% on fees used to finance the National Do Not Call List. Telecom regulators yesterday said the fees it charges telemarketers and corporate clients will increase August 1, and again in 2016 and 2017: “Are we as Canadians any better off with the Do Not Call List?”
CBC’s broadcasting mandate must be specialized with new funding drawn from creative methods like a website news paywall under a sink-or-swim scenario for the Crown broadcaster, says a Senate panel. “It is now possible to imagine service without the CBC,” concluded the Senate communications committee.
