Unsafe at any height

The Cons may have given up on their first attempt to make air travel more dangerous by reducing the number of flight attendants on Canadian flights. But that appears to have been only the first battle in an inexplicable war on aviation safety, as the Cons are now planning to eliminate a requirement that pilots know First Aid:

The federal government may lift a regulation requiring air transport pilots to learn first aid, saying the move will save the aviation industry $93 million over 15 years and help bring aviation labour safety standards in line with Canada's Occupational Health and Safety Regulations.

The proposed change would exempt all cockpit crew members aboard passenger aircraft from having to receive first-aid training "due to their critical involvement in the safe and effective operation of an aircraft."...

The proposal is part of a package drafted by an industry and government working group aiming to incorporate new technology and industry standards and ensure aviation's occupational health-and-safety code gives airborne workers protection similar to that found in other sectors.

The rest of the package of changes does appear to be more reasonable. But it seems fairly obvious that pilots trained in first aid could potentially be a crucial factor both in helping to avoid aerial accidents in the first place, and in addressing the aftermath of any accident after it occurs. And that the fallout from a lack of such first aid could easily do far more damage to the airline industry than even what sounds like a highly-inflated cost estimate.

But for the Cons, such trivialities as safety are once again secondary to the desire to let industry write its own rules. And even if this trial balloon gets burst as quickly as the last one, Canadians have to wonder how long they want to leave a government in power which shows such a consistent desire to increase the risks to its citizens.