And this reality exists because successive federal governments from time of privatization has protected AC for none other than partisan electoral reasons.

And by logic of Canada deserves great national airline, then I suppose we also deserve outstanding national car rental company, national hotel chain, national restaurant, etc. etc...

What Canadians deserve is the pick of the travel market, and the use of the word "national" indeed needs to be called out because it suggests that only a Canadian owned provider has the wherewithal to deliver what is needed.

In my humble perspective, the most practical way to call out a firm that operates in the deleterious manner you express is the intense light of the global competitive marketplace that simply does not exist given the myriad of domestic restrictions in place.

My good fortune is to escape the bounds of AC, with last year doing 171,000 AQM with 129,000 on AC, and this year about the same percentage tracking towards 200k overall (and about 2/3 of my total flying). I will freely admit AC generally provides reasonable service at generally slightly above market prices, at least on the routes and travel itinerary I frequent. And service has way improved since 07/08 fiasco years for me.

yet, I'm an exception with access to Concierge, but I book AC flights frequently for my child who goes to school in Montreal, and she finds service reasonable and timely, although by comparison to US, we definitely pay premium for trans-con. She gets access to the lounge through me, plus few other benefits when I ask AC nicely, so her experience is also slightly altered from the truly non-frequent regular traveler you speak of - every situation is different so generalizations that you offer are just that generalizations.

in sum, shame all you want, but more effective approach is during this election season to demand parties their position on the role of domestic ownership in the Cdn marketplace in determining how customers are served, and this political question applies well beyond this tiny debate about airline service.