The Liberals government in Ottawa says it would consider taking a stake in the country's battered airlines.
Chatting with Intergovernmental Affairs Minister Dominic LeBlanc on CTV Question Period on a weekend broadcast, host Evan Solomon noted that the government Germany has taken a 20 % stake in Lufthansa. When Solomon asked if the Trudeau government might do something like that, Leblanc replied that the Liberals are "very much discussing that."
"I know, my colleagues, [Transport Minister] Marc Garneau, and [Finance Minister] Chrystia Freeland, are looking at a whole series of options of what government support might look like for the sector," LeBlanc said. "So we haven't made any decisions in that level of detail yet, but they're very much discussing that."
Canada's airlines have been hit tremendously hard by the coronavirus. WestJet just last week indefinitely suspended roughly 80% of their flights in Atlantic Canada. Air Canada suspended service to some 30 regional routes back in early summer.
Despite more than six months of severe losses for Canada's aviation industry, there hasn't been any direct aid for Canadian airlines from Ottawa. But Leblanc said he knows it's difficult.
"There's no doubt that Canadians expect that, when the economic recovery is concluded, that we're left with a competitive air transportation system across the country," he said.
The minister said the Liberal government wants to work with Canada's airlines.
"Those discussions will necessarily happen," he said. "And I hope quite quickly."
Air Canada was partly owned by the Canadian government until 1989.
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