Govt loosens Air Canada's maintenance requirements

Prime minister Justin Trudeau’s govt is loosening the legal shackles on Air Canada by easing its maintenance requirements after the carrier agreed to buy jets from struggling manufacturer Bombardier. The changes introduced Thursday by transport minister Marc Garneau would alter the Air Canada Public Participation Act, a set of rules imposed when the former Crown corporation first went public 3 decades ago. The changes will allow Air Canada to move its maintenance centres within 3 provinces and change employment levels. The govt is not granting other changes previously sought by the airline in a bid to level its playing field, such as to rules that require its headquarters to be kept in Montreal and operating under the Official Languages Act. Foreign ownership limits also won’t be changed, for now. <br/>