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Industry Symposium and Reception
May 9, 2012
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Approximately 100 delegates gathered for our 2012 event on May 9th in Ottawa and it was a great success.
The Symposium was entitled "Air Transport - A Key Canadian Socio-Economic Enabler". The topics and speakers consisted of:
Isabelle Dostaler, Associate Professor, Concordia University
"Policies in other developed nations towards air transport"
Fred Lazar, Associate Professor, York University
"Air Transport's contribution to the socio-economic prosperity of Canada"
John McKenna, President and CEO, ATAC
"Canadian federal government's appetite for aviation related revenues"
ATAC's President also tabled the framework for a new National Aviation Policy and the creation of a National Aviation Policy Working Group.
Special thanks to our Event Sponsor, Porter Airlines, and to Sennheiser for donating the door prizes.
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Member Site Visits in Yukon, BC
and Nova Scotia
In April, ATAC participated in member site visits and meetings to discuss current hot issues in the Yukon with Air North in Whitehorse; in BC with the Pacific Flying Club in Boundary Bay, and Coastal Pacific Aviation and Peregrine in Abbotsford; and in Nova Scotia with IMP Aerospace and CanJet in Halifax; Debert Flight Centre in Debert and Greenwood Flight Centre in Kings County.
ATAC Attends NATA Annual Convention
ATAC attended the annual NATA convention in Whitehorse in mid-April. Various current issues with Transport Canada and NAV CANADA were briefed on and discussed at length. With several common members and issues with ATAC this proved to be a very good opportunity to collectively achieve "getting our message across".
Technical Operations Committee
The ATAC Technical Operations committee met on the morning of May 9th. The meeting was well attended by both members and Transport Canada. Gilles Bourgeois, Chief, International Aviation and Jeff Phipps, Chief, Operational Airworthiness tag-teamed in working with our committee to clearly identify the problems, issues and potential solutions associated with frequent temporary importing and exporting of aircraft to and from Europe. Nicole Girard, Director, Regulatory Services updated the group on various issues of interest such as the new CAR 521 amendment, TAWS NPA status and the CARAC Modernization project.
Flight Operations Committee
NAV CANADA briefed the committee and sought input on two major projects underway. Neil Bennet updated the group on the Windsor to Montreal (WTM) Corridor Project and received input regarding certain naming conventions from the committee. Chuck Montgomery then introduced the committee to the Redesign of Approach Plates in the CAP and RCAP and collected input from our members. The Operations Committees were then introduced to, and open discussion ensued with, the two new members of the TC management team, Aaron McCrorie, Director, Standards and Denis Guindon, Director, National Operations. Fatigue Risk Management System regulatory initiative update was given by Bill Boucher. Bill and Les updated the group on Runway End Safety Area (RESA) deliberations with TC.
Les Aalders, Executive Vice President and VP, Atlantic Canada & British Columbia
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What's In My Database?
As the airspace in Canada continues to move to a Performance Based Navigation (PBN) standard with the expanding use of RNAV, understanding what is available in the GPS or FMS database is more important than ever. Anthony MacKay, Manager, Flight Operations, NAV CANADA has published a very informative bulletin on this topic. To access it, click here.
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Announcement of New Dates for ATAC
2012 SMS Toolkit Workshops
- Winnipeg - September 25-27, 2012
- Toronto - October 16-18, 2012
- Vancouver - November 16-18, 2012
Contact Danielle Lavoie at dlavoie@atac.ca to register for these workshops.
ATAC Partners with CCAA on Three New National Occupational Standards Projects -
SME volunteers needed
ATAC member companies' Subject Matter Experts (SME) needed to participate in the following three National Occupational Standards (NOS) projects to help update and develop new standards.
- Participation needed for the National Standing Advisory Committee tasked with updating the Commercial pilots NOS.
- Participation by Dangerous goods subject matter experts in focus group meetings to help provide information for the NOS titled "Transportation of Dangerous Goods Coordinator Standard".
- Participation by operators and trainers in focus group meetings for the development of the Instructor Guide for the Training of Commercial Pilots
Wayne Gouveia, Commercial General Aviation and VP, Prairie & Northern
wgouveia@atac.ca |
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Provinces Change Up Sales Taxes
The recent budget day cycle saw a number of provinces change their sales tax rates/applicability. The following are notable:
- Ontario proposed in its 2012 Budget to shorten the Ontario Retail Sales Tax (ORST) refund and rebate periods to no later than December 31, 2012. As a result, if ATAC members believe there are remaining overpayments of ORST, they should be captured and claimed prior to January 1, 2013, or the claims will be statute-barred. In particular, areas of potential over-payments may include ORST on transactions that straddled the start-up of the Ontario HST (e.g., pre-payments or ORST charged in error) and unclaimed exemptions.
- Quebec will be fully harmonizing the Quebec Sales Tax (QST) with the GST effective January 1, 2013. Complete details have not been announced; however the rate will be changed from 9.5% calculated on the GST-included price to the rate of 9.975% calculated on the price before GST.
- British Columbia and the Federal Department of Finance announced on February 17, 2012 rules for the transition from the BC HST to the GST and BC PST effective April 1, 2013.
- Prince Edward Island announced that it will repeal its PST and implement an HST at the rate of 14% effective April 1, 2013.
- Nova Scotia announced that it plans to reduce the HST to 14% in 2014 and to 13% in 2015.
- Manitoba proposes to apply retail sales tax at the rate of 7% on certain insurance contracts effective July 1, 2012.
We'd like to thank Rob Allwright of KPMG for alerting us to these changes.
Michael Skrobica, Senior Vice President & CFO and VP, Ontario
mikes@atac.ca
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| | EVENT SPONSOR |
ATAC Annual General Meeting and Tradeshow
November 13 - 15, 2012
Westin Bayshore Hotel
Vancouver, BC
Tradeshow sales
have begun!
Check our website for the Exhibitor Package
For sponsorship opportunities, please contact Debbie Simpson at
tradeshow@atac.ca
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