For the Inchman...

[Mitch Cronin]

Re competition... You missed the mark there Dave. Or I failed to mark it properly. I mean to say, you misinterpreted my meaning... and perhaps I helped.

Of course there's going to be some attempts at increasing market share. Capitalism, as you know, is alive and well and Tide and McDonalds don't have it wrong. What I was referring to is the killing game that's been played for as long as I've been in this business. This airline has played to kill, as have others, and I'd prefer not to eat roast beef if it means someone from some casualty airline gets nothing.

I'm all for the healthy brand of competition that might mean the losing team eats hamburger for a while, but that's not how this game gets played. For some reason there always seems to be too much capacity in this country. I'm not sure what's driving that -- perhaps it's tied into people's desire to see airfare

lower than bus fare? -- but what it's meant for airline employees is misery on a constant basis.

This worry that Air Canada employees are now feeling ... this concern for your ability to maintain your livelihood... It rots doesn't it? Well, some of us, myself included, have been feeling something much like this for over a dozen years now. From Wardair to Canadian and now to Air Canada there has been a non-stop pull on the gut from a knife that could twist at any moment. I have no desire to put anyone else through this and I don't think it's worth doing this to so many people just to keep airfares so unreasonably low.

Life is what happens while you're busy making other plans (John Lennon said that), and all this time, while myself and so many others from almost every airline that ever existed in Canada have been trying to live our lives, we've been saddled with this same concern. For some it's crippling... some not so bad, but what's it all for? For some fat cats to feather their beds? I sure as hell don't know, but I know it rots.

Security.... If we worked for Tide or McDonalds, we'd have it. But not in this industry. So, what I meant when I said I didn't want any part of taking other airlines "guests" was that I don't think this killing game should continue and I'd hate to see Air Canada survive only to destroy another airline. I've seen and felt enough of this kind of uncertainty and worry that I'd hate to be a part of doing it to anyone else.

Cheers,

Mitch