Buy back national airline: watchdog Grant Robertson The Edmonton Journal Wednesday, March 26, 2003 CALGARY - The federal government's former independent airline observer called on Ottawa Tuesday to take a complete ownership role in Air Canada, saying it may be critical to the sector's future. Travel consultant Debra Ward, who was recruited by Ottawa two years ago to assess the state of Canada's airline industry, said the time has come to undo the privatization of the country's flagship carrier. "Ownership by Canadians is a laudable goal ... Canadians - 30 million of us - have to come first," Ward told a gathering of the transportation sector in Calgary. The comments came after federal Transport Minister David Collenette said this week that Ottawa is prepared to discuss "any options" that may help cash-strapped Air Canada survive, including the government taking an ownership role. The carrier, which was fully privatized in 1989, is $12 billion in debt and has scrambled to cut $650 million from its operating costs. Last week, Air Canada grounded more than 50 planes and announced it would lay off 3,600 employees. But industry officials are skeptical federal ownership would help the ailing sector, which has been hit by a two-year downturn made worse by the uncertainty of war in Iraq. Cliff Mackay, president of the Air Transport Association of Canada, said the airline industry must be left to survive on its own with as little government involvement as possible. "As an industry, we are not prepared to say that the market should not prevail," Mackay said. Rail, trucking, airline and marine officials gathered at the two-day conference, hosted by the University of Calgary's Van Horne Institute, to form a response to the federal government's blueprint for the transportation sector. Released last month, the blueprint has stirred controversy among industry groups for the changes it proposes. A spokeswoman for Air Canada said the carrier wouldn't comment on speculation regarding its ownership status. *************************************************** The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site/TnTisland.com Roj (Roger James) escape email mailto:ejames@xxxxxxxxx Trinbago site: www.tntisland.com Carib Brass Ctn site www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ Steel Expressions www.mts.net/~ejames/se/ Site of the Week: http://www.thehummingbirdonline.com TnT Webdirectory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************