This week will be key

With parliament recalled this coming week, you can bet that the airlines will be furiously lobbying for government aid. So a final push to get more signatures for our petition will be timely.

In a few hours time the petition will have gathered over 3,000 signatures. But this is just a number. What tells the real story are the reasons people are giving me for signing the petition. There is a real fury out there with the airlines typically characterised as “thieves” and their behaviour described as “immoral.” Other comments sadly reflect a sense of despair:

”I just want my money back. I am a widow and afraid to travel now. Please do the right thing.”

“I am a senior with health issues and don’t know if I can ever fly again. I really resent the fact that they have already used our money and are crying broke.”

Regular petition updates are being sent to Transportation Minister Garneau and Finance Minister Morneau as well as to the opposition party leaders. But we need to intensify the pressure. So please put in one final effort to facebook, e-mail, text, phone or twitter your family and friends asking them to add their signatures to the petition. They don’t need to have a ticket issue themselves of course, but almost certainly they know somebody who does. And they don’t necessarily have to live in Canada. The petition has already drawn signatures from 21 other countries.

The U.S. has joined the European Union in requiring their airlines to fully refund passengers whose flights were cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic. So if you have a Canadian airline ticket to the U.S. for a flight that was cancelled, you can now demand a refund as the Department of Transportation enforcement notice applies “…to foreign airlines for flights, to, within, or from the U.S.”

It remains a mystery why the Canadian government has still not taken similar action. You can help wake them up by phoning or e-mailing your member of parliament to demand action now.

Thank you for your continued support!