Air Canada union Committing Suicide

Air Canada stands on the verge of being wiped out.

You have to scratch your head. Now I know that those who the CAW represents are at the bottom of Air Canada's wage range - people who only make $35,000 a year can't easily absorb a $10,000 a year hit. But regrettably, the alternative has been made plain - the company will be taken apart, closed, and sold off if a deal is not struck.

So CAW's intransigence is hard to understand. I know one CAW economist wrote an article about "Intransigent billionaires" when Victor Li did not bite, but something has to be understood - he could afford to be intransigent. It was his money, and he was fully free to either do the deal or walk away. He's a billionaire, and could comfortably walk away after an ultimatum.

Deutsche Bank has the same choice. They have the luxury of being able to just get up and go. The CAW are playing a dangerous, dangerous game. Can Buzz Hargrove really afford to put all those people out of work? Because it will happen.

The government must step in and help as well - I don't mean throwing money at Air Canada, that would be a waste. But Ottawa has to take some of the regulatory pressure off Air Canada and let it compete on a level playing field with JetsGo and WestJet.

60% of all air travel is done with Air Canada. Most shipping goes on Air Canada. I do not support a bail-out, and few Canadians do. But if Air Canada goes under, our economy will be screwed worse than SARS was able to do.