Mr. Speaker, during the session, several Members have approached me with a number of questions about Nav Canada and the move to commercialize the Canadian air navigation system. This afternoon, I would like to inform the House of current developments and likely implications for the Northwest Territories.
The Canadian air navigation system is the network of communication centres and radio beacons that identify the airways in Canadian air space. Aircraft depend on the system to determine their position and direction in flight. At airport terminals, the air navigation system includes the instrument landing systems, air traffic control, flight information and weather advisory services.
Our most direct contact with the air navigation system in the Northwest Territories is through the aviation services available at our airports. Transport Canada operates flight service stations directly at 10 of our largest airports. The territorial Department of Transportation delivers the community aerodrome radio station, CARS, program on behalf of Transport Canada at 32 airports.
In conjunction with the national airports policy, the federal Minister of Transport announced, in July of 1994, his intention to commercialize Canada's air navigation system. The purpose of commercialization is to offer the services of the air navigation system to the civil aviation industry on a cost-recovery basis. In putting its air navigation system on a commercial footing, Canada follows the examples of other countries; such as, Great Britain, Ireland, Austria, Germany, Portugal, New Zealand and Australia. The United States is likely to take a similar course in the near future.
In one important respect, Canada has taken commercialization a step further than other countries where the national governments have retained ownership of the corporation. Nav Canada was incorporated in May 1995 as a wholly independent, non-share, capital corporation. Nav Canada is not a Crown corporation and it does not answer to the Parliament of Canada. Its board of directors is appointed to represent the interests of industry, labour and the public.
The Civil Air Navigation Services Commercialization Act was introduced in the House of Commons this March. Parliament should pass Bill C-20 in the next few weeks. When the act comes into effect, perhaps as early as September, control and ownership of the air navigation system will pass from Transport Canada to Nav Canada.
In preparing for the transfer of the air navigation system to Nav Canada, Transport Canada, much to its credit, conducted extensive consultations with the many parties who have an interest in the commercialization.
In these consultations, the Department of Transportation represented the interests of the Northwest Territories. Given the importance of air transportation to our communities, the department had two primary concerns: first of all, commercialization should not diminish the level of air navigation services available in the North; secondly, commercialization should not add to the high cost of transportation in the North.
From the outset, Transport Canada recognized the vital role of air transportation in the North. It also understood that the lower volumes of air traffic in the North could not support air navigation services on a full cost-recovery basis.
Bill C-20 includes special provisions for northern or remote services. Should Nav Canada propose to reduce northern or remote services, sections 18 to 22 of the act spell out a rigorous consultation process, specifically including the provincial or territorial government of the affected area. If the provincial or territorial government objects to the reduction in service, then Nav Canada must obtain approval from the federal Minister of Transport to introduce the change.
On the issue of the fees Nav Canada will set for air navigation services, section 35(G) stipulates that the fees charged for northern or remote services may not be any higher than the fees for comparable services elsewhere in Canada.
The two special provisions in Bill C-20 for northern or remote services give us a good deal of confidence that commercialization will maintain the air navigation services we need in the North and at a reasonable cost.
I might also suggest that commercialization is not necessarily at odds with our interests as northerners. Nav Canada is likely to prove more responsive to the needs of the aviation industry than Transport Canada. Nav Canada is also more likely to accelerate technology transfers in the air navigation system. The rate of technological advances in the aviation industry is truly remarkable.
Under Nav Canada, I suspect the benefits of new technologies will penetrate the North all the faster. If the past is any indication for the future, I have every reason to believe that air navigation services in the North will continue to improve, as they have, with even greater accuracy, reliability and availability. Mahsi, Mr. Speaker.