Crash course

Pogge points out another example of how both the Cons and Libs have eliminated the capacity of federal regulatory, this time when it comes to air travel safety. But it's worth noting that the aviation example has already progressed a step further toward complete non-regulation:

(A)n internal memo from November 2006 casts some doubt on the vigilance with which the department will monitor the industry. In his paper, The Role of the Judiciary in Aviation Safety, Moshansky sums up that memo: "Transport Canada instructed its aviation inspectors not to initiate any further enforcement investigations into regulatory contraventions and to close all open cases against SMS certificate holders."

In other words, even while the Cons' spokespuppets try to claim that having federal regulators monitor paperwork rather than carrying out actual inspections will allow for better enforcement, they've simultaneously ordered their staff not to do anything even if the paperwork does show a problem.

Now, this is hardly the first example of the Cons instructing federal regulators not to do their job. After all, it took the Cons only a couple of months in office before they shut down any attempt to require provincial compliance with the Canada Health Act. And of course, it was the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission's stubborn insistence on actually addressing nuclear safety that led to Linda Keen being fired.

But today's revelations about the civil aviation industry look to be perhaps the most dangerous example yet of the federal government completely abrogating its regulatory role. And from the fact that at least part of the change was an internal Con policy decision which was never made public, now would appear to be the time for plenty more questions as to whether the Cons have similarly ordered the Canadian Food Inspection Agency and other regulators to stop doing their jobs.