RE:Government shares canceled I wouldn't say cancelled. It sounds like they just sold the shares on the market. It might explain some of the selling pressure the last few days this week.
Honestly, the Feds were better off holding for longer, but this is good for Air Canada as it removes that connection of requiring government assistance and probably allows some lower prices for them to buyback thru the NCIB. The Feds also just owned common shares. They could have demanded a different class of equity that would have required a specific form of redemption, but they didn't.