MONTREAL — Internal documents show the federal government pushed for travel rules that cut airlines more slack around paying compensation to passengers, despite resistance from Canada’s transport regulator.

In 2023, the Canadian Transportation Agency drafted regulations that would scrap some reasons the airlines could use to deny customers compensation for flight delays or cancellations when they were required for safety purposes.

But briefing notes prepared for then-transport minister Anita Anand and reviewed by The Canadian Press state that regulators conceded to rolling back some proposed changes so that carriers would be exempt from cash penalties if flight disruptions were due to mechanical issues or labour strikes.

Obtained through the Access to Information Act, the documents from November 2024 say the government was making those exemptions “clear” to the head of the transportation agency and that Anand was “disappointed” the top regulator was bringing up the issue once again.

The documents and records from a federal registry also reveal a heavy lobbying push by airlines, with the government echoing industry concerns in its efforts to scale back some of the regulator’s reforms, as first reported by CBC News this week.

Passenger rights advocate Gabor Lukacs argues that government pressure on the agency following that lobbying campaign has failed passengers, leaving them with a narrower range of compensation options than travellers in Europe thanks to what he calls the “loophole” for carriers.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 1, 2026.

Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press