How much do you want to bet these guys will earn pennies on the dollar for what we make? I can see it now - an Air Canada Express going off the end of the runway pilots who are unable to afford to buy themselves food due to the poor pay. Or perhaps fatigued. I hope the ACPA can quickly put it's feet on the ground and stand up against this.
An American company that offers meager benefits, typically hires relative low experience pilots, who often pay for their own training, and then work to the bone for next to frack all - will be taking the jobs from pilots who worked and developed experience for years to get a fair paying job with good benefits.
ZBBYLW and
altiplano, with all due respect and understanding the emotions and the consequences that this may have on employment opportunities for Canadian pilots, I remember hearing the same arguements made by Air Canada pilots over the decades regarding 1) the regional airlines which eventually became Jazz, 2) scope clauses, and again by both Air Canada and ACR pilots when it came to Tier 3 flying. It didn't convince many people outside of the industry then and I doubt that this hackneyed explanation will convince many non-pilots today.
Most passengers today are as likely to hop on Continental Express as they are Air Canada Express if the price is competitive. The "safety" arguement won't work anymore here. With Jazz having become an "outsider" of the Air Canada group of companies, Air Canada, as a shopper, has gone looking for best value (price for product) the same way as you and I do. They were able to pull this off and to be honest with you, I expect that as borders are erroded in the Air Transport industry (and they need to be to guarantee a more sustainable industry) that we will be seeing more of this in the future.
As pilots we may not be happy with this trend, but we better come to grips with the reality unless we want to find ourselves out cold, out of a job, at some point in the future. Just saying.