Blacklock's Reporter

The Canadian Transportation Agency has fined nine companies $117,000 in its first enforcement of regulations on full-fare disclosure.

The agency told Blacklock’s it also issued a total 117 formal notices for misleading advertising that concealed the full cost of travel. Offenders included most major airlines – including Air Canada, WestJet and Porter – and numerous travel websites.

New rules were enacted last Dec. 18 but not enforced till this past May to give promoters time to comply, regulators explained. “The agency worked with advertisers to assist them in understanding what they needed to do,” said Marine Maltais, agency spokesperson.

Companies to receive multiple warnings for separate violations were Air Canada; Air France; Porter Airlines; Carlson Wagonlit Travel; Downunder Travel; and flightcentre.ca.

“It appears the regulator is working hard,” said MP Olivia Chow (Trinity-Spadina, Ont.), New Democrat transport critic; “This is sending a signal out to industry to be honest and truthful in pricing.”

Agency rules require that all air fares advertised in Canada disclose the true cost of unavoidable taxes, surcharges or other fees, with exemptions for air cargo carriers; travel package promotions that include accommodation or entertainment; or contracted business-to-business travel services.

The largest fine imposed to date is $40,000 on the website itravel2000.com, which was cited for “lack of co-operation”, followed by flightcentre.ca ($21,000 in fines); Air China ($10,000); Corsair ($10,000); Etihad Airways ($10,000); Flightnetwork.com ($8,000); Bradley Air Services Ltd. ($8,000); American Airlines ($5,000); and Aerovias del Continente Americano ($5,000).

MP David McGuinty, Liberal transport critic, said the fines remain too modest.

“For a major international airline – without naming names – this is not a force at play to get them to cease and desist,” said McGuinty, MP for Ottawa South. “They are driving traffic to their websites, driving people into travel agencies; people are getting the bills and not realizing they were in fact lured in, effectively under false numbers.”

Transportation Minister Lisa Raitt did not comment.

Agencies given warnings but no fines by federal regulators included Amex Canada Inc., Searstravel.ca and the Alberta Motor Association.

“Unless there are consequences, different operators will continue to flout the rules,” McGuinty said.

The European Union enacted fare disclosure regulations in 2008, followed by the U.S. Department of Transportation in 2012.

The complete list of advertisers warned over breaches of full-price disclosure regulations under the Canadian Transportation Act includes Aeroflot; Aerovias del Continente Americano; Air Canada; Air Canada Vacations; Air China Ltd.; Air creebec; Air Labrador; Air North Charter & Training; Air Pacific Ltd.; Air Tindi Ltd.; Air Transat A.T. Inc.; Alaska Airlines; Alberta Motor Association; Alitalia; American Airlines; Amex Canada; Aussie Travel; Austrian Airlines; Bains Travel; Bar XH Air Inc.; Bearskin Lake Air Service; Bel Air Travel Group; Bradley Air Services; British Airways; Brussels Airlines; Butte Travel Services Ltd.; Calm Air International; Canadian North Inc.; Carlson Wagonlit Travel; Cathay Pacific; Cheap Tickets & Travel Inc.; Cheapoair.ca; China Eastern; China Southern; Compagnie Nationale Royal Air Maroc; Compania Panamena de Aviacion; Condor; Corsair; Delta; Deutsche Lufthansa; Downunder Travel; Egypt Air; El Al Israel Airlines; Emirates; EPA Air Algéria; Etihad Airways; Eva Airways Corp.; Expedia; Finnair; flightcentre.ca; Flight Network; Flylink Travel Corp.; Gala Travels; Groupon Inc.; Hainan Airlines; Handa Travel Services Ltd.; Harbour Air Ltd.; Hawkair Aviation Services Ltd.;  Helijet International; Hume Travel Corp.; Icelandair; Island Express Air Inc.; ITravel 2000.com; Japan Airlines; Jet Airways (India) Ltd.; K.D.Air Corp.; Keewatin Air LP; KLM Royal Dutch Airlines; Korean Air Lines; LATAM Airlines; North Star Air Ltd.; Northwestern Air Lease Ltd.; Orca Airways; Pacific Coast Airlines Ltd.; Pakistan International Airlines Corp.; PAL Airlines; Pascan Aviation Inc.; Perimeter Aviation Ltd.; Polish Airlines SA; Porter Airlines; Qantas Airways; Qatar Airways; Red Tag Vacations; Royal Jordanian Airlines; Sata Internacional; Seaair Seaplanes Ltd.; Searstravel.ca; selloffvacations.com; Singapore Airlines Ltd.; Société Air France; South African Airways; Sunquest Vacations; Sunwing Airlines; Swiss International Air Lines Ltd.; Taca International Airlines; TAM Linhas Aereas; Thomas Cook Canada Inc.; Thunder Airlines Ltd.; Transportes Aéreos Portugueses; Transwest Air Limited Partnership; travelalerts.ca; targetvacations.ca; Travelocity Global; Travelzoo Inc.; Tripcentral.ca; Turkish Airlines Inc.; Virgin Atlantic Airways; Wasaya Airways Limited Partnership; and WestJet.

By Staff

Natural Resources Canada consulted with oil and mining companies it regulates to cast just the right image in government TV ads, according to records. However the department agonized over what type of actors should depict resource-loving Canadians, and dithered over how many jobs to credit to the industry.

Accounts of the department’s production of Action Plan advertisements promoting the last federal budget are detailed over 819 pages of emails and reports released through Access to Information.

The department asked corporations for help or hand-out footage for TV ads, including Exxon Mobil video of a Hibernia oil rig. “We’d prefer to shoot our own footage of the rig if it avoids the perception of private sector endorsement…but if your company contacts means access to filming – then I guess that’s fine,” Michael Jacino, Natural Resource’s communications manager wrote in an Aug. 13, 2012 memo to a consultant.

Unable to find image of a pipeline inspector – the only commercial video for sale was filmed in Iceland – Natural Resources agreed to ask one of Canada’s largest pipeline operators for help: “Kinder Morgan is working on a pipeline inspector for us,” a consultant wrote Sept. 2.

Even more vexing was the search for images of mine reclamation for use as proof of the government’s environmental stewardship. “Of most concern is the mine reclamation shot as we really don’t know what to use there,” wrote the department’s ad agency, which complained it could not even fake the imagery: “At this point we’re looking at aerial shots of a mine followed by aerial shots of a field, but it is virtually impossible to find two shots that look like they were the same property.”

Instead the government contacted Goldcorp Inc. for hand-out footage, drawing a stern warning from the mining giant that the ads must be good publicity: “We are pleased to provide you with permission to use the footage, with the caveat that the footage be used with an associated soundtrack and voiceover that portrays Goldcorp positively,” the corporation cautioned Natural Resources staff in an Aug. 31 memo; “We are not supportive of being associated with any anti-pipeline or anti-extractive sentiments…We’d like to review the final product before it’s aired to ensure it is respectful.”

Natural Resources’ Jacino assured Goldcorp Inc. that cabinet and the Prime Minister’s Office would okay the final ads: “These are premier Government of Canada television advertisements,” Jacino wrote; “I am quite confident that if we end up using Goldcorp footage you won’t be disappointed with the end product nor the association. These ads are intended to support the government’s budget priority, responsible resource development.”

Troubles On The Set

The department had more trouble in casting actors to play typical Canadian workers.

In a July 16 memo consultants suggested Natural Resources hire visibly different performers to depict “ordinary Canadians” – “For example, the four spokespeople could be a white man, an Inuit woman, a black man and an Asian woman”.  Later a proposed August 1 casting list narrowed the roles to a pipeline worker (male, Caucasian); a parent and child hiking along a coastline (Inuit mother and son) and a lab technician (Asian).  The department subsequently approved yet more casting changes, substituting the Inuit hikers with a Caucasian mother and son, and hiring an East Indian woman to play the role of lab technician.

More problematic was an image of a typical Canadian classroom.

“Content must be 100 percent Canadian,” Jacino wrote consultants on Aug. 26; “If this is not available (hard to believe), then we may have to cast talent and shoot this scene.” The ad agency had suggested buying video of an American classroom – “a preferred choice due to colour and ethnicity” – and crop the image to remove the U.S. flag. Consultants solved the dilemma with stock footage from the National Film Board: “Even some French on the wall beside the teacher,” enthused Jacino; “Looks great!” replied Greg Johnston, senior ad analyst with the Privy Council Office.

With ACTRA fees for unionized peformers estimated at $150,000, consultants suggested the department use “actual people” instead: “They are paid non-union fees so there is a slight savings,” read an Aug. 1 memo.

However officials fretted over ensuring non-actors for one video shoot at the Port of Vancouver did not include convicted criminals. In a search for imagery of a double-hulled tanker, a video team was assigned to a Seaspan Inc. tugboat as it escorted a Turkish-owned tanker, Yasa Golden Horn. TV producers lamented they were forced to work with a genuine tug crew: “I explained that we need them nicely dressed and to be well-groomed,” a consultant explained; “Of course all personnel on board the Seaspan tugs have background checks and are upstanding citizens, so I feel we should be fine there.”

Jobs, Jobs, Jobs

Oil and gas development created more and more jobs – at least in revisions to TV scripts as officials redrafted wording over a period of four months.

Original claims of “countless jobs” were quickly rejected: “We need to replace ‘countless jobs’ with numbers”. Subsequent TV scripts read, “New projects will create more than 200,000 new jobs across the country over the next ten years.” By July 16 the claim was changed to read, “Pipeline expansion and oil production increases will likely generate 700,000 jobs over the next 25 years.” On July 24 the tally was upped again to “more than one million jobs”.

The Department of Natural Resources agonized over other statistics and details. An original scripting claim was found to be untrue: “400,000 tonnes of fuel are shipped safely in and out of Canadian ports every day”. Consultants admitted the number was false, and advised the issue was too complex for TV viewers to understand.

“We selected this fact from the information provided, but it will likely need to be revised because it was an aggregate from the ports listed in the information, probably not all Canadian ports,” an ad agency wrote. “We think that tonnes of fuel may be too obscure for the average Canadian to grasp. It may be worth considering a measurement that is easier for people to relate to such as ‘1000 ships carry fuel safely in and out of Canadian ports every day’”.

Producers spotted one embarrassing gaffe: an official discovered Aug. 24 that large pipes used as imagery were actually for water, not oil and gas. And the department stressed authenticity in video of a woman actor playing a water tester: “I’d like to ask a casting question,” Jacino wrote in an August 26 memo: “So the water tester is in steel-tied boots (sic), jeans, protective vest and hard hat, potentially hip waders?” Natural Resources’ Earth Sciences Sector was pressed: did water testers really wear safety vests or life jackets? “For fresh water like a river, there are no regulations about life jackets or safety vests,” the agency replied; “If there are suspected hazardous materials in the water (like radioactive materials), then gloves and a safety vest are required.”

Costs of the Natural Resources ads were not divulged. Budgeting on all Action Plan promotions totaled $13.8 million in 2012, according to accounts tabled in Parliament

By Tom Korski