(Ottawa) The chairman of the House of Commons Transportation Committee wants to ask leaders of Sunwing and VIA Rail to come and explain publicly what has given thousands of Canadian travelers holiday nightmares.
Posted 5:05pm Updated 10:05pm
Liberal MP Peter Schiefke tweeted on Tuesday that he plans to call a meeting of the Standing Transport Committee where representatives from both airlines will answer questions from MPs in Ottawa.
Schiefke says Canadians “deserve answers for the unacceptable delays and cancellations during the holiday season.”
This tweet was quickly shared by German Transport Minister Omar Alghabra. “It’s going to be an important discussion. Canadians deserve answers! ‘ the minister added on Twitter.
Hundreds of travelers found themselves stranded on vacation in Mexico after Sunwing canceled their return flight. Travelers have also accused the airline and tour operator of not communicating well with affected passengers.
Sunwing announced last week that it would be canceling all flights out of Regina and Saskatoon airports through early February due to “extenuating circumstances”.
“Unacceptable,” says the minister
Minister Alghabra described the situation at Sunwing as “unacceptable”. But he also raised concerns that VIA Rail passengers were stranded for hours when a winter storm battered parts of Ontario and Quebec.
Many trains scheduled to run on Christmas Eve were canceled and VIA Rail said the derailment of a CN train led to more cancellations on Christmas Day and the following day.
A spokesman for VIA Rail said Tuesday night that the company would respond “favourably” to a request from the committee to explain what led to the situation last month.
Air travel has been the source of many complaints in 2022 as the industry saw the widespread return of domestic and international travel following the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions. Problems at airports, including lost luggage and long delays, have been attributed in part to staff shortages.
And that without considering the long waiting times at the passport offices. Service Canada struggled to catch up on the backlog of applications that had built up over the first two years of the pandemic.
Tory MP Mark Strahl, who is a member of the Commons Standing Committee on Transport, said on Tuesday his party wanted Minister Alghabra to respond to events over the holiday too.
“He broke his promise to fix the system and Canadians paid the price,” he tweeted.