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Section II: Analysis of Program Activities by Strategic Outcome

Strategic Outcome

Transparent, fair and timely dispute resolution and economic regulation of the national transportation system

The Agency has two mandates set out by legislation and reflected in its strategic outcome. On one hand, it acts as an economic regulator of the national transportation system, making determinations and issuing authorities, licences and permits to transportation service providers under federal jurisdiction. In this function, the Agency strives to achieve a high degree of excellence in the timeliness of its decisions, the transparency and consistency of its decision-making process, and high quality and responsive services.

On the other hand, the Agency acts as a quasi-judicial tribunal in commercial and consumer disputes related to transportation, including accessibility issues for persons with disabilities. In this function, the Agency strives to achieve a high degree of independence from outside influence, impartiality, integrity and timeliness in its procedures, as well as expertise in transportation and human rights matters.

For both of these functions, the Agency measures client satisfaction on an ongoing basis. It uses client satisfaction surveys and consultations with the industry to achieve high performance standards.

For a comprehensive overview of its activities, the Agency's logic model can be found on its Web site.

Benefits for Canadians

The Agency's strategic outcome is aligned with the Government of Canada's outcome, which is a fair and secure marketplace. Agency programs are designed to resolve economic issues, remove transportation barriers and protect the rights of consumers, carriers and other parties interested in transportation matters. It contributes to a national transportation system that is competitive, efficient and accessible, and that meets the needs of transportation users and providers.

Economic Regulation

Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($ thousands)

2011-2012		2012-2013		2013-2014
FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending
119	11,992	118	11,963	118	11,870

Economic Regulation Performance Indicators

Expected Results	Performance Indicators	Targets
Economic and other interests of transportation users, service providers and other affected parties are protected through timely and effective intervention	Percentage of satisfaction with economic regulation services	Baseline to be established by 2012-2013
Service providers (air, rail and marine) comply with regulatory requirements	Percentage of air carriers found to be non-compliant with essential market-entry requirements	Less than 1%
	Level of compliance with targeted regulatory and voluntary accessibility requirements	100%
CN and CP are provided with the information required to ensure they do not exceed the maximum grain revenue entitlements for the shipment of Western grain	Number of times that either CN or CP have not exceeded their Western grain revenue cap entitlement by more than 1% over the last three years	5 out of 6

Summary

This program activity is responsible for the economic regulation of the national transportation system. It is responsible for a wide range of matters involving air, rail and marine modes of transportation under the legislative authority of Parliament and, for certain accessibility matters, extra-provincial bus transportation. The program derives its authority from the Canada Transportation Act, as well as other laws and regulations that it is mandated to administer.

Its role can be best depicted along a continuum, in which the transportation policies, including policies related to the accessibility of the national transportation system, emanating from the legislative and executive branches of the Government of Canada are implemented in an impartial and sound manner by the Agency.

The scope of responsibilities of the Economic Regulation program is broad and varied. Within the context of a pro-competitive transportation policy framework, responsibilities extend to targeted aspects of the national transportation system:

• market entry: ensures that entrants into the Canadian transportation marketplace meet basic public policy requirements;
• market behaviour: protects the interests of transportation users, service providers and other affected parties; and
• market exit: determines conditions under which carriers can or must exit certain markets.

Applications handled by the program vary greatly in complexity and volume. However, the vast majority of applications involves only one party seeking an authorization or determination from the Agency. Further information regarding this program can be found on the Agency's Web site.

Planning Highlights

The Agency will focus on achieving results in two critical areas, which are the improvement of services and relationships with client and stakeholders, and the continued modernization of its regulatory regime. A critical underpinning of these objectives is to enhance relationships through communications.

To further develop relationships with its clients and stakeholders and optimize its performance, the Agency plans to:

• continue to increase the transparency of its decisions by ensuring versions of important decisions are made available to the public in a timely manner;
• continue to focus on improving management of its caseload by reviewing and implementing measures to streamline its internal procedures; and
• continue its outreach activities with its clients and stakeholders in order to address issues in a timely fashion, and to facilitate the implementation of new initiatives.

To modernize its regulatory regime, the Agency plans to:

• finalize the review and update of the Air Transportation Regulations sections dealing with air charters in order to align the regulations with the current policy framework and the evolution of the air industry;
• develop regulations to increase foreign ownership limits in Canadian air carriers, in conjunction with Transport Canada, and building upon earlier industry consultations;
• develop information bulletins to better inform its clients and stakeholders on how the Agency makes determinations on "operators" of an air service and what "publicly available air service" is;
• finalize guidelines on the processing of applications for extra-bilateral applications;
• continue working with domestic and international air carriers to ensure full compliance with the requirement that the terms and conditions of carriage be posted on their Web sites and be available at their business offices;
• promote its new Sample Tariff, which provides a comprehensive tariff document written in plain language, which builds upon industry practices and Agency decisions;
• complete the review of its cost of capital methodology for federal railway companies, finalize guidelines on the determination of net salvage value for railway lines, and streamline the Uniform Classification of Accounts;
• work towards updating certain aspects of its costing model for Class 1 railway companies;
• work towards the development of a new online delivery channel (client portal), which will act as a catalyst for re-examining its business processes; and
• review and update its application guides so they remain current and provide the information needed by its clients and stakeholders.

Benefits for Canadians

Through the initiatives focused on improving services to and relationships with its clients and stakeholders, the Agency is striving to enhance the timeliness and the transparency of its decisions. The Agency's plans to modernize the regulatory regime will contribute to aligning it with the evolution of the policy framework and the air industry, improve the transparency of the decision-making process, reduce the need for unnecessary applications, facilitate the efficient processing of applications and offer new and more effective service delivery channels that utilize internal resources more efficiently.

Adjudication and Alternative Dispute Resolution

Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($ thousands)

2011-2012		2012-2013		2013-2014
FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending
71	7,886	71	7,869	71	7,976

Adjudication and Alternative Dispute Resolution Performance Indicators

Expected Result	Performance Indicator	Target
Access to specialized transportation dispute resolution that is transparent, fair and timely	Percentage of satisfaction with Agency dispute resolution services	Baseline to be established by 2011-2012

Summary

The Agency has the jurisdiction to resolve transportation issues affecting air, rail and marine modes of transportation under the legislative authority of Parliament, as well as matters relating to the accessibility of the national transportation system to persons with disabilities.

Applicants presenting their issues to the Agency include affected users, such as passengers and shippers, transportation service providers, municipalities, road authorities, landowners and other affected parties. Applications cover a wide variety of matters. Some matters are relatively simple and can be dealt with quickly while others are more complex and may take a lengthy period of time to resolve. The Agency is guided by various Acts and regulations. In all cases, the Agency rigorously applies rules of natural justice and ensures that it issues balanced, fair and clear decisions that take into consideration Agency precedents, and that respect the decisions of the Federal Court of Appeal and the Supreme Court of Canada.

Disputes are resolved by a variety of methods: through informal facilitation by Agency staff, through Agency-appointed mediators, through an arbitration process administered by the Agency or through the Agency's formal adjudicative process.

Resolving disputes in a fair, transparent and timely manner helps achieve a competitive, efficient and accessible transportation system, and helps meet the needs of users, service providers and other affected parties. Further information regarding this program can be found on the Agency's Web site.

Planning Highlights

The Agency aims to resolve disputes using alternative dispute resolution methods which are generally faster, more effective and less costly than formal adjudication. For cases that go to adjudication, the Agency will continue to work on improving the timeliness for resolving formal disputes through ongoing process and service improvements.

To improve services and relationships with its clients and stakeholders, the Agency plans to:

• continue to actively promote the use of alternate dispute resolution mechanisms such as facilitation and mediation where possible, in order to optimize the timeliness of the resolution process;
• improve the efficiency of caseload management in order to deliver timely decisions;
• streamline internal procedures and establish a better triaging of cases on the basis of complexity;
• continue its outreach activities with the clients and stakeholders to facilitate a better understanding and accessibility of the Agency's dispute resolution processes;
• develop communication materials explaining how the Agency deals with accessibility-related complaints filed by persons with disabilities, and the resolution of air traveller complaints;
• develop an action plan in response to feedback from the client service survey;
• issue a methodology, through its Technical Advisory Committee, for measuring and assessing railway noise;
• release decisions on whether certain applicants with allergies encountered undue obstacles to their mobility;
• provide continuous training to case officers, including cross-training on dispute resolution between transportation modes; and
• monitor performance through the case management system so that appropriate modifications and adjustments can be made.

There will also be a focus on the following initiatives in 2011-2012:

• review the Agency's General Rules to focus clarifying procedures for dispute resolution, as well as the development of guidelines for processing determination cases and guidelines for oral hearings;
• implement the Sound Study Methodology in noise and vibration disputes;
• complete the review of and publish new interswitching rates;
• educate the industry on the revised Coasting Trade Guidelines;
• undertake the examination of the Agency's policy regarding section 32 applications (requests for review of decisions based on a subsequent change of facts or circumstances), with a view to developing clear and easily understood procedures;
• review and update the Agency's regulations, codes of practice and guidelines that pertain to accessible transportation to ensure that they remain relevant, current and responsive to the transportation system users and providers, government policy and the public interest;
• develop guidance material to communicate the rights and responsibilities of transportation service providers and persons with disabilities with regards to the Agency's accessibility standards, to ensure that the federal transportation system remains accessible and free of undue obstacles; and
• monitor compliance with the Agency's regulations, codes of practice and guidelines that pertain to accessible transportation and take appropriate follow-up action.

Benefits for Canadians

Resolving disputes in a fair, transparent and timely manner helps achieve a competitive, efficient and accessible transportation system that meets the needs of users, service providers and other affected parties. Effective dispute resolution ensures that individual Canadians have access to a fair and open process on matters pertaining to transportation. The Agency offers a dispute resolution process that is a faster and more cost-effective way to resolve differences than through traditional court processes.

Improved and updated communications products, which clarify the processes for both informal and formal dispute resolution, will ensure that our clients and stakeholders are well informed and well served. As a result, the Agency is viewed as a respected and trusted tribunal, its decision are seen as independent and fair, and its services considered innovative, effective and continuously improving.

Internal Services

Human Resources (FTEs) and Planned Spending ($000s)

2011-2012		2012-2013		2013-2014
FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending	FTEs	Planned Spending
71	7,292	74	7,316	74	7,302

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