Canada’s not-so-open skies

AIR CANADA'S pilots should have known that their threat of a Labour Day strike was a non-starter. It was never going to win support from the travelling public, seething at the rotten service provided lately by Canada's dominant carrier. Nor was the government going to sit back: it stood ready to use back-to-work legislation to prevent the country (the world's second-largest and heavily dependent on air travel) being brought to a standstill. So there was relief, but no surprise, on August 28th, when the pilots and management reached a tentative agreement. But everyone knows the deal will not solve the biggest problem facing Canada's airline business: lack of competition.