Ward traces air industry's upheaval back to government
Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services
Yellowknife (Apr 04/01) - Max Ward says the current upheaval in Canada's airline industry is due to government's support of a single carrier years ago.
"By supporting one airline for so long, (Canada has) reached a point where we have to reorganize," Ward told a packed room Monday at the Explorer Hotel during the Northern Air Transport Association's 25th annual general meeting.
Ward, an aviation pioneer who started flying in the North after the Second World War, founded Wardair in 1953. In 1962 he obtained a licence to operate international air charters.
Ward says the federal government's support of Air Canada hindered fair competition. He added competition with Canadian Airlines will come but it is a "long way off."
In the interim the "public will suffer. So much for hindsight," he said.
Ward also mentioned a recent conversation he had with C.D. Howe, who helped create Trans-Canada Airlines, which later became Air Canada.
According to Ward Howe said, "We have to protect Air Canada, but that's not going to last. We're going to have competition."
Howe, a Liberal MP who represented Port Arthur (Thunder Bay), was appointed Transport minister in Mackenzie King's cabinet in 1936.
"In 1946, we didn't get the start we needed."
Waiting for change
Ward said it will take an energy breakthrough before there is a major change in the airline industry.
"Airfares today are killing the public. All because we didn't have the right aviation policies in place years ago," said Ward.
On restructuring of the nation's airline industry, Federal Transport Minister David Collenette said the government chose to not bail out Canadian Airlines when it faced bankruptcy.
Other options were to allow the company to go bankrupt or approve Air Canada's acquisition of Canadian Airlines, said Collenette, who also spoke at the conference in Yellowknife.
Air Canada wanted Canadian's lucrative Asian routes. In exchange, Air Canada had to make certain commitments, he said.
According to the deal, Air Canada has to serve, for three years, all communities that were served by both airlines at the time of the merger.
Collenette said the transition has been orderly and there is a trend toward an alternative to Air Canada.
