Airline practices toward persons with disabilities gain wrath of NDP in Parliament

Canada's largest airlines seem to be going out of their way to court anger from passengers these days and the politicians in Ottawa are paying attention.  

With the NDP once again chastising Canada's national air carriers over their behaviour, this time over how they are treating passengers with disabilities.

The latest round of disappointing service saw former Paralympian Sarah Morris-Probert  forced to haul herself up the stairs to her flight from Mexico, that as the carrier West Jet had no access to a proper ramp.

It's just one of a number of concerning accounts relayed through the media in recent weeks and yesterday led to a call from the Members of the Transportation Committee on Parliament Hill, who acted on a motion from Skeena-Bulkley Valley MP Taylor Bachrach.

On Monday, members of Parliament's transport committee passed MP Bachrach's motion to call the CEOs of Air Canada and WestJet, the Minister of Transport and other government officials to testify before the committee in a study of inaccessibility within the air sector. 

 “We’ve heard apologies, we’ve heard commitments to do better, but the government is in a position to ensure this never happens again by strengthening the regulations governing airlines and other parts of the air transport sector. We hope the committee's hearings will shed light on the specific changes that are needed." -- Skeena Bulkley Valley MP Taylor Bachrach

NDP MP Taylor Bachrach's statement today on
plans to call Airline executives to account 
(click to enlarge)

No date was announced by the MP yesterday, towards when the call for executives to appear and testify at the planned committee session would take place.

More notes from the House of Commons can be reviewed here.