The chair of the House of Commons transport committee says Sunwing Airlines and Via Rail need to publicly explain what caused the travel chaos suffered by thousands of Canadians over the holidays.
Liberal member of Parliament Peter Schiefke said he plans to convene a committee meeting and call for representatives from both companies to appear as witnesses.
The MP said Canadians deserve answers for "unacceptable delays and cancellations" over the holiday season.
Hundreds of people were stranded in Mexico over the holiday period after Sunwing cancelled their flights. Passengers accused the company of poor communications. Last week, Sunwing announced the cancellations of all flights from Regina and Saskatoon until early February.
Via Rail had also come under fire after passengers were stranded for hours as a winter storm pounded parts of Ontario and Quebec. Several Christmas Eve departures were cancelled, and more cancellations followed on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, which Via blamed on a CN rail derailment.
VIA Rail struggled over the holidays due to weather and a CN train derailment. (VIA Rail)
A spokesperson for Via Rail told CTV News late Tuesday that is will honour a committee request to explain what led to the holiday travel nightmare.
Air travel in Canada was a major issue throughout much of 2022 as the industry struggled to return to full capacity after COVID-19 restrictions were lifted. Demand soared, but staffing issues created a cascade of problems, including lost luggage and long delays. The issue wasn't unique to Canada, but the situation here was among the worst in the world.
Sunwing says it has now completed all of its scheduled recovery flights to bring home passengers stranded in Mexico. The company released a statement saying that winter storms disrupted its operations and teams worked around the clock to bring home affected customers.
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