OTTAWA — ALPA Canada has come out against many of the recommendations in the Competition Bureau’s ’Cleared for take-off: Elevating airline competition.’

The market study report, released last week, drew reaction from many Canadian carriers including Air Canada, WestJet, Porter and more.

ALPA Canada President Captain Tim Perry, said the bureau’s focus on prioritizing competition within Canadian aviation policy “is far too narrow in scope to take into consideration the broader realities and existing challenges of Canada’s aviation sector.”

Furthermore, he added, “competition is not a synonym for affordable air travel. We believe that Canada’s resources should be directed at pursuing the policies with a real chance of strengthening our airlines for the benefit of the Canadian economy and its passengers.”

Capt. Perry also spoke to the bureau’s recommendations to ease Canada’s cabotage rules, i.e. opening up Canada’s airline industry to foreign-ownership, for domestic-only Canadian carriers.

“The Bureau’s recommendation to work with other countries to remove foreign competition restrictions to allow for foreign airlines to fly domestic service within Canada, known as cabotage, is a lose-lose proposition that sells out Canadians by forfeiting the air sovereignty that connects our country and exports many of the benefits of Canadian-owned and operated enterprises,” he said.

“Such a scheme would enable foreign airlines to cherry-pick money-generating routes at the expense of less profitable regional connections that bind our country and are the backbone of the Canadian economy.

“ALPA Canada strongly believes that permitting foreign airlines to conduct cabotage operations in Canada – in any way, shape, or form – is impractical, unwise, and places Canadian carriers at a competitive disadvantage while displacing Canadian workers from high value jobs. Canadians must see this report for what it’s doing: undermining Canadian jobs, businesses, and our fundamentally shared national interests.”