Really, still?

If you are notified in advance, its a schedule change.

I grant this is less obvious, and defined in law and treaties more than the tariff. All the compensation rules (European, or the not-yet-in-place Canadian ones) exclude the punitive compensation if you are notified in advance (everyone defining differently "in advance").

Its not public facing, and I suppose you could argue with the policy as not being binding on you, but the easy to read summary is at https://www.aircanada.com/content/da...nge_policy.pdf .

Key takeaway from that, if AC gives >48 hours notice, your TA can rebook you on just about anything into much higher classes than you paid for, with a detailed matrix. If you are booked in economy, and not in one of the two highest buckets, your TA can rebook you on AC's dime into basically anything, in economy from the third most expensive bucket down, +/- 7 days before/after the original travel dates (with the same trip length)

That is very advantageous to you and rebooking on "anything" (my word) within a week of the start or end, up to the third highest bucket... They will find space.