'It’s their lifeline': New safety rules for flights to remote communities on the table as ministers set to meet
OTTAWA — Transportation ministers from across the country will meet quietly this week with an agenda that is expected to include a possible update of the contentious safety rules that govern flights to remote communities.
National Post has learned that the unannounced meeting, to be held Feb. 20 in Vancouver, is expected to address a range of transportation issues, including a proposed “regulatory sandbox” that would mark a fresh attempt to balance competing interests over Canada’s air safety rules. Those rules have been a source of friction and a political football that have been passed from one federal minister to the next for more than a decade.
Air service to many First Nations and other remote Canadian communities, often without road access, rests on a workable set of rules that balance safety and business needs. Hundreds of remote communities across the country rely on air service for food, medical supplies, transportation to and from hospitals, and a range of other services.
“It’s their lifeline,” said Bernard Gervais, executive director of the Northern Air Transport Association (NATA), which represents almost 60 aircraft operators. “It’s their link to the rest of the country.”
The flights to remote communities also serve industries such as resource exploration and tourism.
The rules, on such key issues as how long a pilot must rest after consecutive hours of work, have been thorny topics since at least 2015, when former federal transport minister Marc Garneau approved the first major updates in about 15 years.
But those updates seemed to satisfy neither side.
The operators of “air taxis” (smaller planes) and helicopters say they need more flexibility in the rules if they’re going to be able to serve remote communities. Those rules, they argue, need to reflect the unique characteristics of Canada’s vast and remote regions, not to mention the lack of pilots.
If the rules state that a “milk run” flight to seven or eight communities, for example, needs to be grounded for an excessive number of hours to allow the pilot to rest, the operators say, the final couple of communities on the route may not get service. Even if costs weren’t a factor, they argue, there aren’t enough pilots to employ more than one for longer flights to remote regions.
Gervais said there has already been some “degradation” of service in recent years because of the lack of regulatory flexibility and the need for more pilots.
The unions representing pilots and air traffic controllers, on the other hand, say safety is paramount and the basis on which the entire system must be based.
“Safety is not only a regulatory obligation — it is a strategic asset and a global competitive advantage for Canadian aviation,” Tim Perry, president of the Canadian chapter of the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), wrote in a letter this week to Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon, in advance of the meeting in Vancouver.
While the two camps differ on what the rules should be, they agree that a critical part of Canada’s transportation system is under threat if the safety rules aren’t in line with their side’s wishes.
A government official confirmed that Steven MacKinnon, Canada’s sixth transport minister since 2015, will attend next week’s meeting of provincial and territorial ministers.
Transport Canada did not respond to requests for comment.
For many remote communities, the importance of the air service can’t be overstated. “It is not an understatement to say that our community members’ lives depend on reliable and timely air service,” wrote Grand Chief Derek Fox, of the Nishnawbe Aski Nation, to then-federal transport minister Omar Alghabra in late 2022.
Since the 2015 changes, Garneau and his successors, with varying levels of interest, have been attempting to find the right balance. Various efforts to make changes have been shelved because of the pushback from one side or the other.
One source said there seemed to be a consensus among provincial and territorial bureaucrats that the proposed “regulatory sandbox,” a temporary regime that could be tried and evaluated, is worth a try. It would mean more flexible rules that would largely help operators.
In a May 2025 draft presentation, Transport Canada outlined the sandbox proposal, saying it wouldn’t change pilots’ rest requirements (at least 12 hours when at home and 10 hours while on the road) and would be based more on science, particularly acknowledging the higher risk of flying in the “window of circadian low” between 2 a.m. and 6 a.m.
Politics may also be part of the equation. Some critics question if MacKinnon and the Carney government are hesitant to try the sandbox proposal because it would likely upset the unions, at a time when the Liberal government in Ottawa is trying to shore up support on both its left and right flanks.
Earlier this month, Doly Begum, the New Democrats’ deputy leader in the Ontario legislature, resigned her Toronto seat to run in a byelection for the federal Liberals. That followed two Conservative MPs crossing the floor late last year to join the Liberals, leaving them a single seat short of a majority.
National Post
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