Concerned Canadians are urging Ottawa to join the Europe-USA talks on a new aviation agreement, and some are warning that failure to do so will jeopardise the country's interests.
Roland Dorsay, president of the Canadian Airports Council, is warning that unless the Canadian government participates as a fully fledged member, Canada's interests could be jeopardised. Dorsay says the talks could "reshape aviation in the 21st century", and Canada needs to be part of them.
According to Warren Everson, vice-president at the Air Transport Association of Canada, which represents the country's carriers and many aerospace industry firms:"The talks are likely to be very sweeping and significant, and Canada cannot ignore them." Everson believes that Canada should at least have observer status to the talks to understand where they are headed. Dorsay argues that observer status is not enough.
In a recent article co-authored by Dorsay, William Dymond, executive director of the Centre for Trade Policy and Law at Carleton University, and law professor Armand de Mestral from McGill University, the three chastise Canada's transport minister David Collenette for showing no interest in joining the talks. They argue Canada could make a valuable contribution in the same way it did at the 1944 Chicago Convention, which set today's rules for international aviation.
Talks have already occurred at ministerial levels in Brussels and Washington about Canada's involvement, says Dorsay, who predicts negotiators would see Canada as a worthy addition "if it expressed a positive interest in participating".
He disagrees with Collenette's claim that Canada can wait until the Europe-USA talks are concluded and then negotiate its own deal. "You lose any influence or say over the outcome of the first negotiations that way," Dorsay warns. "Once that deal is done, it would be very difficult for the Europeans or the USA to accept any other template than that one."
DAVID KNIBB SEATTLE
Source: Airline Business
