The Jill Bennett Show, Sept 15, 2026

0:00Hello and welcome to the Jill Benetrol podcast. Today we take a closer look at a class action lawsuit aimed at air Canada. It has to do with people traveling with wheelchairs and other mobility devices. Plus, digging down into the numbers of the deficit, what was really in the fiscal update. And food waste, many people say they try not to throw food away, but they still end up doing it. How to stop all that food from going into the garbage. That's all coming up on the Jill Benetrol podcast.

1:00We are starting the show today talking about a class action lawsuit. It has been approved and it is against air Canada. It was brought forward by passengers who use wheelchairs and other mobility devices. And joining me now to talk more about what this actually means is Rebecca Code, a partner with CFM. Rebecca, thank you for joining us and talking more about this today. Thanks for having me. Can you remind us again about how this started and how this class action came to be? Sure, but I do. I think it's important to, there's a few things that I think are important to address at the outset. And one is with respect to where we are at in the litigation. So earlier this week, the court certified the case as a class action. That means that we had a hearing before a judge at the BC Supreme Court. And she agreed that it made sense based on what we were alleging and our evidence for

2:02the case to proceed on a class-wide basis. So we're still at the allegation stage. There's an appeal period. There might still be an appeal. That's an open question. But before we get into anything more specific, I want to just make clear that we're still at the allegation stage. We haven't gone to trial. That's still something to come in the future. In terms of specifically what happened, well, the representative plaintiff, there's been a lot of news coverage of his story already, he's named Rodney Hodgkins. He had a very bad experience traveling with air Canada in 2023. He our plaintiff has cerebral palsy and relies on an electric wheelchair, which means that he and other similarly situated people in Canada, other people who use mobility aids. And they go to take a flight. They can't ride their electric wheelchair onto the plane and sit in their electric wheelchair on the flight.

3:02They have to get into a seat and someone has to transport their wheelchair. So the class action stems from Mr. Hodgkins' native experiences flying with air Canada. But the case alleges that these class members have contractual rights to certain services that air Canada says it will provide them based on the fact that they have these mobility disabilities. And so those services are helping physically move from their mobility device to their seat and the safe and reliable transportation of their mobility aid so that it arrives where it's supposed to be and is not damaged. So we say the class is air Canada's paying customers who didn't receive these services. And the reason they didn't receive these services we say is because there are systemic problems within air Canada about how it provides these services. And those are those allegations are what we are planning to get discovery, get information

4:08from air Canada on and hear from class members about that we expect our belief is that there's a problem with respect to policies training the implementation of policies and oversight etc that results in these paying customers not getting these services which are critical and essential for them to be able to travel safely by air. And when you talk about the lead plan to for Rodney Hodgkins you're right there has been a lot of coverage and I think people will in many cases remember seeing footage of Mr. Hodgkins physically dragging himself down the aisle because that's what he needed to do he had to do that to get himself out of the seat or to get himself to the next space. I get what you're saying that this is still at the allegation stage but so with that and with that footage being out there does that change anything or what does that do now that this has become a class action a certified class action.

5:10Yeah so because it's a class action and this was you know something that we had to get court approval on you are we don't believe that Mr. Hodgkins situation is unique so while not everyone in the class may have had to drag themselves off a flight Mr. Hodgkins had to do that because no one came to assist him so the again going back to those two services that are at issue in our case the first is help being moved from a mobility device to a passenger seat and back and I want to just point out because there has been other coverage it's not just Mr. Hodgkins story who who has received media attention on this there's been a lot of coverage and I think it's been very helpful for people to hear these stories because being physically moved from a mobility device to a passenger seat is a very vulnerable thing if your body is being

6:14handled by strangers your clothing can shift most of the people in the class can't physically protect themselves if they don't have the protective reflexes if they're dropped they just get dropped you know there are these stories that have been covered by the media and the media has done a really good job of bringing these stories to light because part of the allegation from Mr. Hodgkins as well as it's not just that one flight to Las Vegas where no one came to assist him he and other class members have had other experiences where for example they're entitled to board first and they don't get to board first and instead they're made this spectacle as people watch them go through this very vulnerable experience so you know are in terms of the services we say class members are entitled to it's this it's this being safely moved to their passenger seat and that means someone comes who knows what they're doing and also being moved in a dignified manner we say that the language in air candidates tariffs create a contractual right for this

7:20and at the certification stage the court looked at our pleadings and and said yes it's arguable so now we get to proceed on proving these allegations and going to trial and to be clear on what's being questioned here because you're right and the the fact that it's not just this one case that Mr. Hodgkins is talking about that I think I had read as well that this is a systemic issue a culture of indifference toward passengers that need this assistance so is the are the rights of the passengers being questioned that those rights aren't enshrined in the rules or is it more that they are there but they're not being followed by airline staff so that is so how litigation class actions work is you file a notice of civil claim which spells out your allegations once we get discovery we may refine our allegations but at this point our allegation is that it's it's systemic in the sense of inappropriate policies it may be that the policies are fine but the trainings

8:25not there are the policies aren't being properly implemented but our allegation is that this what happened to Mr. Hodgkins and and the descriptions and other reported stories are not one-offs there's these passengers are entitled to these services and they're not they're not being appropriately delivered and the reason for that is something we will explore on discovery but there's too many instances where things have gone wrong for these passengers for this to just be a one-off. Do you anticipate that more people will come forward or is this also a call for more people who have had issues and instances like this that they could join the class action? So I'm glad you asked that question because we absolutely want to hear from people so anyone listening if you yourself or you know someone who travels with a mobility device and have issues have had issues with these services on an air-counter flight we would very much

9:27ask you to contact us we are in the discovery phase we need to prove our case and we need to hear from people in order to do that. In terms of whether or not someone needs to take steps to be part of the class action the way class actions work is that they are opt out not opt in so if someone meets our class definition they are in the class action unless they take steps to opt out opt out is the is the formal term that process the opt out process hasn't the guy yet will do a formal notice where again the court has to sign off on the notices and the opt out procedure but we'll do a formal notice giving people the opportunity to opt out that will be in the future but you know our position is that this is a case that makes sense to litigate as a class wide case and and people should come forward and tell us their stories and yeah be part of the class action. And interesting as well with the opt in and opt out because even looking at this and the facts

10:33of this case it reminded me I was talking of doing an interview with somebody once whose wheelchair when she got to her destination going to a conference the wheelchair had been so broken in the flight it wasn't even usable and part of what came out in that conversation was that I think in the United States they keep track of when wheelchairs or mobility devices are damaged during flights and that we don't even do that here in Canada is that something that could change or something that could be addressed in a class action like this. So that's a good question. I expect that air Canada has stats I haven't seen them again we're we've just been certified so you know we don't have documents yet from air Canada but I expect that air Canada has records of complaints and records of instances where these mobility devices are damaged because they probably had to pay to fix them etc like I expect that there are I expect that there is information out there that

11:33we will get in terms of whether there's the regulator tracks this that I'm not sure of that there are ways to submit complaints to the Canadian transportation agency they may have some statistics as well but I I personally don't know and haven't seen that if there is that information I haven't seen it. It will be very interesting to see how this proceeds moving forward Rebecca code will leave it there for today thank you for coming on the show. Thanks for having me. Now see today that we will seek private investment through long-term concessions to operate Canada's four largest airports following best practice in other countries the government of Canada will retain ownership of the underlying land and assets but we will unlock their true value by bringing in new capital and expertise to their operations and their growth. That was Prime Minister

12:33Mark Carney talking about the potential for making more money getting more money for infrastructure the four largest airports in Canada including in Vancouver now he says the government is looking for concessions not privatization of the country's four largest airports he made that comment at the investment summit he says the investors would run the airports but the government would maintain ownership and he says privatizing operations could free up federal funds for regional airports and help cut the costs for travelers at those smaller facilities well just before the break I played for you some of the comments from former air Canada COO Duncan D he said this could be a good idea that it is done in other places and it does bring in that capital needed to help boost the other airports see he talked about the fees in Canada being the highest airport fees in the world I think he made an example though I don't think this was in the clip that we played but he did say that

13:38I think the example he gave was New Jersey I have to go back and check but the difference was he he talked about in a US airport where the airport fees were four dollars and fifty cents compared to Pearson airport in Toronto being around forty five dollars saying that we're paying these huge fees maybe something needs to be done to change things well let's talk more about what this plan could actually look like is this going to be a huge shift in how operations are done at the major airports joining me now to talk more about this and the announcement is John Gradyk aviation expert and faculty lecturer at McGill University John Gradyk great to have you back on the show my pleasure to be here sorry it was a little late but it's been a crazy day as you can appreciate that is quite alright I know there are a lot of people that want to talk to you and get your take on this so you're here now what is your take on this the prime minister saying it's not privatization of the country's airports this is looking for concessions and this would involve private investors what do you take from this announcement oh I think that the finally you know

14:42we're finally getting a position from the government and an announcement that was long overdue I think we've been talking about this for close to thirty years now on in various ways shapes reforms about privatization and I think that you know either to get you know prime minister is right this is not privatization in the classical sense we are not selling airports we're basically creating a business model that looks at creating long-term leases concessions the ownership of the land remains with the crown the actual operating practices and the use of that land and the use infrastructure is now going to be covered by a lease to a investor and that investor will in fact be managing you know the the investment profile the dollars and cents associated with both investing in the business as well as operating the business transport canada will still have responsibility for providing the rules and regulations and the practices in that airport so

15:46they're not getting out of the airport business airports are a functional responsibility of the federal government and it will remain that way what we're changing is the financials and how we inspect spend money and invest money in these airports and that's what's this this announcement makes makes that happen what's in it for the private investors what did they hope to get out of this all i don't know the private investors are you know everybody's been talking about these sovereign funds about these pension plans and that you know they they're they really want to look at an investment that minimizes risk and if you want a near risk-free environment to invest in it's an airport airports are not going to go bankrupt airports are not going to move airports are not going to shut down hopefully not but they but they all are a long a guaranteed long-term source of income so because of that minimization of risk associated with with you know running an airport and getting revenues from an airport they're willing to to to to to to put money in and

16:51accept a lower rate of return then with you know a bank or another typical investor so this is a very good deal for those funds that have long-term investment horizons and want to have stable income as part of that portfolio and an airport the idea of vehicle to do that does it mean anything different for passengers or what would passengers experience in an airport that has these investors well you know you mentioned you know the airport improvement fees you know they're comparing it to the US and then yeah so we're at 45 or or going to 50 bucks soon and some of these airports will those come down I think you know I think not I think we're going to see the the airports now look at other getting generating other sources of revenue that will complement what we were getting with AIFs I think you know I think we're going to keep these AIFs at their current level

17:52they're not going to you know hopefully they're not going to increase but we'll have to have a way of figuring that one out and that's something that it has yet to be determined but I think that the objective of the exercise is to get other revenue into the process higher quality revenue that would offset the need to go to passengers to pay for the investment that's going to be required for these airports that's the situation we're faced in today whether the airports are in Vancouver to spend 10 billion dollars or Pearson to spend 16 billion somebody's going to have to pay for the for the interest on those investments or those those requirements and guess what it's going to be a passenger so if you think today's AIF are expensive tomorrow's AIF given the current model that we have those AIFs are going to go north fairly quickly so that would be a good thing I think for passengers them because like you said it's not as though they're going to slash those airport improvement fees but if there is a way to keep them from going up I think passengers would appreciate that yeah I think that's you know not only would you keep the fees down but you

18:53you're going to get an operating environment at an airport that you feel comfortable and I think Vancouver is probably the one airport that we spent that that spent the most money to keep to do the upkeep to build up 2010 they spent you know billions of dollars to improve the terminal building and to bring in you know rapid transit and all those good things about the airport but that's the last big investment we had and it's the time for us to do some more investment in Vancouver yes we need some more we have to upgrade the terminal there's a whole bunch of things that are on the shopping list that Vancouver needs in terms of airport improvements and now with a well healed investor with that with availability of funds you know Vancouver will have access to those funds without having to depend on increased AIFs to pay for the carrying costs of those new funds all right well I appreciate you joining us and I know again it's been a very busy day for you John Gradek we will leave it there for today but again thank you for making the time we'll be back at this soon trust me we'll be back again

20:01joining us to talk more about how a shift in what you grow can really make a big difference it is Oliver Egan co-owner of edible acres farm in Windermere BC Oliver thank you for being with us today hey yeah no problem thanks for having me Joe well thank you again for doing this I know you are busy on the farm but let us know what has happened there I know in the past you've been very well known for growing garlic now you're branching into strawberries how did that all happen okay well yeah so we grew garlic for many years and unfortunately acquired something called white rot so we're taking a break on that I still have garlic grown by a friend of mine but not right now on our farm so because we grew about an acre of garlic we were looking for something else to put in its place and it so happened that Columbia Basin Trust had a grant up for grabs for this climate

21:08resiliency as you were saying there so yeah so it was kind of we were supposed to choose what sort of crop to grow and then apply for a grant so we chose strawberries and what was it about strawberries so that made you go with that well strawberries are well I yeah I mean they're easy to grow but I've never grown before so I think they are easy to grow no they I guess they are a quick return on investment because you get strawberries right away and then because we are a primarily a like a farmers market garden we go to a couple of different farmers markets so selling fresh strawberries seemed like no brainer and did you have to do anything different with switching growing garlic which if I'm being correct here you plant it you kind of leave it it goes dormant

22:13and you harvest it in the summer did you have to shift things around or really change operations to go from that to strawberries yeah yeah if anything strawberries is a much easier crop to grow we planted the strawberries in the spring we used a machine called a bed shaper so it lays plastic mulch and drip tape and then you just poke go along and poke holes and plunk the little strawberry plants in and that's all done in the spring then you wait a little while they grow you water them they start to flower and eventually you start picking strawberries there you go yeah as opposed to garlic which takes all season and then you harvest garlic in the late summer and then you're processing it and cleaning it and so yeah I mean garlic is non perishable you know or it's sort of more shelf stable whereas strawberries we have to go through them much quicker but this year

23:18that wasn't a problem well there you go you mentioned the trust and the grant that came through the trust resilient food crops program is that something that you're seeing more of looking at ways where farms and farms like yours where unfortunately you had the issue with the garlic getting the rot so that wasn't working that there is this funding and there is this support to really try and find these more resilient crops well this is one of the grants that Columbia Basin Trust has put on or put out for for folks to try and apply for it's the first time I've seen this particular one to be completely honest it didn't sound like it was received very you know like there wasn't a lot of people that applied perhaps because they couldn't think of something new or maybe they just weren't aware of it if you're familiar with the Columbia Basin Trust you need to live in the

24:23Columbia Basin to be able to apply for it so it's a it's a regional thing it's not a provincial body so yeah yeah I mean I could go into more detail about why that is but basically we were looking for something it worked out really well that there was this it was available so yeah yeah I guess we just got lucky well that's that's nothing wrong with that yeah you mentioned that it that you were able to plant to this and to shift to growing strawberries what happens down the road though with and there'll be another season from what I understand too you do have to replace strawberry plants they're not so they don't last forever so do you have a plan would do you plan to stay with the strawberries or shift then to something else or or have you looked at it that far yeah yeah yeah so definitely that was another reason why we picked strawberries because strawberry plants are good for up to three years so we could do this initial

25:27investment and then see how it goes for the first couple of years and then potentially plant more and it's just going to like so like I said this is our first year we got some strawberries the June bearing basically produced just about nothing we had some irrigation issues as well you know working out the kinks of how to grow these things but next year there should be a much bigger yield and that'll give us a better idea of how you know what the potential is I suppose and do you have any plans would you like to go back and or reintroduce garlic to the the crops that you're growing or is that chapter closed now I might grow garlic again probably not on the scale that we did before yeah all right and it's so interesting is it a good thing do you think that we are looking at food resilience and the fact that that there are changes and no matter what's

26:29pushing it in your case again getting that rot that made it so the garlic wasn't to any good but we are looking at resilience and being able to pivot to and shift so that these farms are still growing and are still producing of course yeah I think any any any innovation or any trialing is important it's probably not done as much as it should I personally believe that this grant was out there to try something that you know maybe couldn't grow before like bananas you know and so now that there's climate change and global warming and all the rest of it maybe you you know we are a zone three but maybe now we're a zone four and so we can grow things that didn't used to grow here at all for us specifically you know climate change is more like super hot and

27:31dry followed by super wet and rainy so it's very hard to grow anything when that happens without you know without like lots of infrastructure either irrigation or greenhouses or or or other things like that I think that's that's that's the long term to me is that you know we can still grow food but if it's going to be 40 degrees well then I can't grow lettuce because it's just too darn hot all right well you know what I mean yes absolutely so interesting to see how the things are changing and again looking at food resilience moving forward all over Egan we will leave it there for today thank you for joining us great thank you very much for having me have a great day Joe thanks for listening to the Jill Bennett show podcast can't wait for the latest episode to drop tune in to the Jill Bennett show live from noon till three on 730 CKNW have a question or comment send me an email Jill at cknw.com thanks again for listening