Raitt in Possible Conflict of Interest over Air Canada Upgrade

The strike is off, but an upgrade to business class for a quick flight has Lisa Raitt defending herself against accusations of conflict of interest.

The Air Canada flight attendants' strike has been averted for now, although the woman responsible for doing so, Federal Labour Minister Lisa Raitt, could be in trouble for accepting a favour from the airline. Liberal finance critic John McCallum says that Raitt is in a conflict of interest for accepting a free upgrade to business class on a recent flight from Toronto to Ottawa. Her upgrade was signed off by Duncan Dee, Air Canada's head of government relations and the airline's chief operating officer. While we're not sure that this is, in McCallum's words, "the mother of all apparent conflict of interests," (exaggeration much? A one-way business-class upgrade between Toronto and Ottawa is worth $400 or so), but it is kind of coincidental that one of Air Canada's top executives was apparently providing perks to the one woman in the country who had the power to resolve an upcoming labour dispute.

Either way, the strike has been called off as Raitt has brought the contract dispute between the 6,800 flight attendants represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees and Air Canada to the Canadian Industrial Relations Board. The board as been advised to determine whether flight attendants are "essential workers." Unions can't strike when disputes are before the board, and the Tories expect an answer by Monday, at which point they've indicated they could introduce back-to-work legislation in Parliament.