2013 ruling upheld as Air Canada forced to retain Montreal maintenance facility

As a result of Air Canada’s attempts to move the majority of its heavy-maintenance operations out of Canada in 2012 by awarding a five-year contract to an American firm, Avos Fleet Performance (Avos) filed for bankruptcy protection, citing a decline in the level of business done with Air Canada.
The Quebec Liberal government at that time filed a lawsuit against Air Canada in April, 2013, and in the same year a Quebec court ruling found Air Canada had contravened federal law by not keeping heavy-maintenance operations in Canada, as indicated in the Continuance section of the act, “Section 6 (1) The articles of continuance of the Corporation shall contain (d) provisions requiring the Corporation to maintain operational and overhaul centres in the City of Winnipeg, the Montreal Urban Community and the City of Mississauga”.
Air Canada subsequently launched an appeal indicating that they had not ceased all operations with Avos and were therefore not contravening the act. However on Tuesday of this week the Quebec Court of Appeal announced it has upheld the lower court ruling that the carrier violated the Air Canada Public Participation Act when it provided an American company with a five-year contract to maintain its airplanes in the U.S.
Dave Ritchie, the vice-president of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Canada said “More than 2,500 of our members lost their jobs over this, and we promised them we would never give up this fight and we welcome this decision.”
An Air Canada spokeswoman, Isabelle Arthur, indicated that Air Canada is studying the ruling and will not be commenting at present.