Finance committee  That's my area of responsibility. I am responsible for the application of GST to public service bodies. That covers basically most services provided by government. The principle under the GST is that basic health care services are intended to be exempt. In particular, the exemption applies to health care services that are paid or reimbursed under a provincial health care plan, services that are rendered to a patient at a health care facility, or services that are rendered by a member of a profession that is regulated by health care in at least five or more provinces.

Finance committee  In terms of the circumstances you're outlining, I'll just go back and repeat what the provision provides. Basically, in what we've outlined in the provision, we've tried to identify what “qualifying health care” service is and what will be entitled to the exemption. It just means “a supply of property or a service that is made for the purpose of”.

Finance committee  I'll just briefly mention, as I was going to say before, that the charge has been adjusted over time. It has been adjusted downwards previously. It's based on the level of traffic. If traffic substantially increases, then it's a flat-rate charge. If traffic goes up substantially, then the revenues will increase.

Finance committee  It would have been a marginal amount. It depends on what you think. But relative to the billions expended and the billions received, it would have been relatively small.

Finance committee  The charge is intended to be an ongoing charge, so the intent is that it will finance the additional expenditures, the enhancements over time.

Finance committee  We will continue to review the level of the charge to make sure it's consistent with expenditures. As I said, the charge has been adjusted in a number of previous years, and it's always been in relation to what the expenditures over time are, in order to try to keep them in line.

Finance committee  If you look at the charge itself, it was initially introduced at a level of $12.

Finance committee  I'm just talking about the domestic rates, the one-way rate, which was $12. That was based on trying to fund levels of security at that point in time. It's always based on the expectations for the future of passenger travel. You always try to estimate it based upon a certain level of travel.

Finance committee  For a fixed period, off the top of my head, I'm really not familiar with any specific taxes that have been introduced for some level or something.

Finance committee  That's correct.

Finance committee  It's $7.48 for one-way travel and $14.96 for round-trip travel.

Finance committee  Let me get my current rates. For one-way travel it is $7.48.

Finance committee  --and in Canada, the rate will be.... Is that one-way travel?

Finance committee  CATSA is the dedicated agency responsible for air travel security in Canada. What they do is all dedicated towards the air travel security system. They are the ones who largely administer it. The screeners you run into every time you fly are employees of CATSA. They have an annual report and they report their expenditures each year.

Finance committee  I think they would report under Transport Canada.