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First round of cuts at Transport Canada: 33 jobs lost

This includes the immediate closure of the Aircraft Services directorate based out of Edmonton, Alta.

Aircraft services directorate is responsible for the maintenance of all
TC aircraft as well as some aircraft for the Department of National
Defense and the Canadian Coast Guard planes and helicopters. The
Edmonton Aircraft services directorate is known to have some of the
lowest operating costs and is one of the busiest.

The closure of this office means that the only other location to service
central and northern Canada is in Winnipeg. "In light of the Auditor
General's report on civil aviation safety, Canadians can be guaranteed
there will be more delays to get inspectors to locations in the North
and central Canada to inspect the aircraft," said Christine Collins,
National President of the Union of Canadian Transportation Employees
(UCTE).

TC also announced the centralization of Marine Vessel registry offices
to Ottawa and the realignment of some work activities within other
groups. As a result some people across the country have to decide
whether to move across the country to Ottawa while others are faced with
immediate lay-offs.

"Unfortunately this is only the tip of the iceberg", said UCTE National
President Christine Collins. "The majority of the cuts are to take place
in a couple of weeks."

The Union of Canadian Transportation Employees represents the majority
of staff at Transport Canada and is a component of the Public Service
Alliance of Canada.