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Please take a minute to vist www.airpassengersafety.ca to press federal transport minister Jean Lapierre to release documents on air passenger safety and crew to passenger ratios. Senior managers in Transport Canada want these documents kept secret.

CUPE has called for the release of the documents because they explain why Transport Canada rejected a proposal to cut flight attendant staffing in March 2001.

It’s not surprising that Transport Canada deputy minister Louis Ranger is determined to keep them secret. Heavily censored versions of the documents CUPE obtained through Access to Information contain damning statements that point to serious passenger safety concerns if flight attendant staffing is cut.

Some of the censored documents are available on the site.

To their credit, MPs on the House of Commons Transport Committee have demanded to see the secret documents. And the Committee has even taken the unusual step of subpoenaing the author of the documents. Mrs. Frances Wokes will testify in late February or in March 2005.

In a final attempt to hide from the public so they can cut staffing levels, Transport Canada senior management have decided that only MPs will get to see the secret documents and that Frances Wokes’ appearance before the Transport Committee must occur behind locked doors.

We’ve got to pressure Transport Minister Jean Lapierre to make sure his managers make these documents public.