I agree totally with Spenda with regard to the management of the Canadian airline industry as a whole. Brian Mulroney was not the start of the downfall, he was merely just a link in the chain which started pretty much at the time commercial aviation began in Canada. The Canadian government, using their airline Air Canada systematically destroyed any and all competition that they faced. Just ask Max Ward about the problems he had. Now Air Canada is getting its come-uppance and the only problem is that since Air Canada is really the only game in town many people will lose their jobs, with nowhere else to turn. There are no real alternatives for the pilots. Where will they go? This is really very, very sad.
It is time to allow more foreign investment into Canadian Airlines. The current system obviously does not, and cannot work, as has been demonstrated in crisis after crisis in the joke of an aviation industry in Canada, and I think Spenda is right when he says that it would be better to have more jobs with foreign money rather than less jobs with so-called Canadian inward-investment.
I read on another website today that the management is thinking of asking for concessions from those who are on probationary contracts. I hope that this information is incorrect, as these pilots are paid an absolute pittance - less than half of the starting wage of all flag carriers in all the other countries in the developed world.
I, like Spenda, would love to be able to return home some day. But I doubt this could ever happen because who in their right mind would ever want to leave what is a relatively healthy industry (jobs-a-plenty) to this utter disgrace that is occurring in Canada. Will it ever get better? I hope so but in my lifetime it has gone from bad to seriously dismal.
Lazlo