Hey there, time traveller!

This article was published 17/11/2009 (3969 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

OTTAWA -- The federal transport minister's office worked in lock step with the airline industry to draft the government's passenger rights campaign, despite concerns from the bureaucracy about how the plan was being developed, according to internal correspondence obtained by Canwest News Service.

The Conservatives launched Flight Rights Canada last fall to inform air travellers of their rights, but only after airline executives reviewed several drafts, provided input and approved the final product -- a process that raised the ire of a top bureaucrat involved.

The transport minister at the time, Lawrence Cannon, also ignored warnings from the senior bureaucrat about a tiny communications budget of $15,000 to fund the initiative, so the promised rollout of "prominent signage" at key airports has never materialized.

No billboards or posters were put up at airports and only $3,640 was spent to develop the initiative. This includes material posted on the departmental website, Transport Canada said Tuesday.

Details of the development of Flight Rights are revealed in correspondence between the minister's office and senior bureaucrats. The government intended to block their release in response to an Access to Information request, but the full, uncensored documents were sent to Canwest News Service, apparently by mistake.

Governments often consult with stakeholders when developing initiatives. In this case, the minister's office did not consult consumer groups.

Liberal and NDP MPs took shots at the Tories. "This is outright collusion on the part of the Conservatives and the airline industry," NDP MP Jim Maloway said.

Before developing Flight Rights, the minister's office had privately pleaded with major airlines to step up their lobby campaign to kill a Liberal motion for the government to bring forward legislation to protect the rights of air travellers -- even as the minister publicly rallied behind the initiative, documents obtained by Canwest News Service show.

Newly released records show how the minister's senior policy adviser at the time, Paul Fitzgerald, sent the "latest, latest version" of Flight Rights to the airline industry's national lobby group on July 10, 2008, for feedback and comments. He boasted a few weeks later to Brigita Gravitis-Beck, Transport Canada's director general of air policy, that the initiative had been approved by the three airlines and he was awaiting "similar approval" from the national lobby group.

Gravitis-Beck was not pleased with this early involvement of the airline industry, according to correspondence.

The revelations come as the current transport minister, John Baird, is fighting to kill a private member's bill authored by Maloway to legislate a Canadian version of the European Union's 2005 Airline Passenger Bill of Rights.

-- Canwest News Service