Regulating travel agencies.

The provincial government proposes to establish a fund to compensate travellers who do not get what they pay for after arranging a vacation through a travel agency. For example, if construction of their hotel is incomplete, the hotel is infested with cockroaches, and the chartered flight doesn't arrive to take them home, travellers would apply to the fund to be reimbursed for their losses.

The fund would be established by amending the Travel Agents Act, which regulates this industry. The amendment would permit the government to make regulations determining who must pay into the fund, how much they must pay, how and under what circumstances travellers may make claims, and what criteria will be used in determining whether and how much to compensate travellers.

a. Do the principles of procedural fairness require the government to provide any individuals or groups with an opportunity to be heard before it amends the statute?

b. If so, who is entitled to procedural fairness and what kind of consultation or hearing would satisfy the requirements of procedural fairness that applies in this case?