Just saw this in the Globe and Mail....
"The U.S. government yesterday welcomed Air Canada's proposal to increase competition between Canadian and U.S. carriers, saying the idea was intriguing, but required further study.
"We have long wished to move forward to an open skies agreement with Canada," said Bernard (Buck) Shinkman, a spokesman for the U.S. embassy in Ottawa, who explained he was relaying "guidance" from Washington on U.S. government reaction to the Air Canada proposal.
The American response appeared to contradict suggestions from Canada's Transport Minister David Collenette Thursday that the United States is cool to the idea of liberalizing air competition at the moment.
Mr. Collenette told reporters that as recently as two months ago the Americans showed little eagerness to consider increased competition with Canada. He said they are too "preoccupied" with other issues right now.
Yesterday, Anthony Polci, spokesman for Mr. Collenette, said Ottawa has not had much success to date in convincing Washington to sit down for new air industry liberalization talks -- but is always ready to deal if the Americans are.
"If the U.S. is willing to discuss this, we'd obviously be willing to discuss it as well."
Mr. Shinkman said the United States is "always ready to engage with Canada on ways to strengthen our aviation relationship."
He said Washington wants to hear from Ottawa exactly what it thinks about Air Canada's proposal.
But he said Mr. Milton's long-term goal of an unrestricted aviation market between Canada and the United States, also called cabotage, would require further analysis.
"Mr. Milton's proposal includes a cabotage element in addition to the traditional open skies provisions. Since cabotage is currently precluded under U.S. law, this raises a complex issue that will require careful study."
Officials at American Airlines Inc. and United Airlines Inc., the two largest U.S. carriers, have said they support the principle of liberalized air policy, but need time to study the specifics of Mr. Milton's proposal.
Yesterday, the Air Transport Association of Canada, which represents several Canadian airlines, said it supported Mr. Milton's proposal to extend "modified sixth-freedom rights" between the two countries.
This would allow U.S. carriers to fly between points in Canada through U.S. airports and give Air Canada the same rights to carry passengers between U.S. cities through a Canadian airport.
But Clive Beddoe, the chairman of Calgary-based WestJet Airlines Ltd., said yesterday that he is opposed to the proposal.
Mr. Beddoe said he doesn't think it would do anything to lessen Air Canada's grip on the domestic market.
He added that this would put Canadian carriers at a disadvantage because they pay much more for fuel than U.S. carriers."
This would suggest the future is near.