Nunavut MLAs set to grill airline bosses at caucus meeting

Nunavut’s legislative standing committee plans to review, in camera, the draft main budget estimates for 2016-2017 at the end of this month and they will also include a public hearing on airline codesharing Jan. 26. (FILE PHOTO)

Representatives of the three biggest airlines serving Nunavut will appear at a full caucus meeting at the Nunavut legislature in Iqaluit Jan. 26 to answer questions about their troubled codeshare arrangements.

John Quirke, senior clerk of the Legislative Assembly, told Nunatsiaq News Jan. 4 that the one-day meeting is currently scheduled to begin at 9 a.m. and will be broadcast Nunavut-wide on both TV and FM radio.

“Right now the plan is for the meeting to go one day, but we’ll see how things go in the chamber,” Quirke said.

Aggu MLA Paul Quassa introduced a motion in the house Nov. 5 requesting representatives from First Air, Canadian North and Calm Air to appear at a special caucus meeting to respond to questions and concerns from Nunavummiut about the codesharing agreement between the airlines.

Since the agreements came into effect in June 2015, Nunavummiut have complained of fewer flights, longer delays for cargo and issues related to medical travel.

Numerous MLAs raised these issues on behalf of their constituents during the November 2015 sitting of the legislature.

The airlines have defended codesharing as a necessary move to keep their businesses sustainable.

And Canadian North president Steve Hankirk, in a letter to Premier Peter Taptuna tabled in the legislature during the last sitting, wrote that many of the issues experienced by the airline’s customers had nothing to do with codesharing arrangements.

The Government of Nunavut and the City of Iqaluit also met with officials from the federal Competition Bureau to discuss the codesharing agreements.

The bureau is reviewing the codeshare arrangements but has not provided a timeline of when that review will be complete.

The public caucus meeting with the airline representatives will occur during a legislative standing committee review of the draft main estimates for the 2016/17 fiscal year.

The budget review is not open to the public, but the one-day meeting with the airlines will be.

The 2016 winter session of the Legislative Assembly is scheduled to begin Feb. 24.