Finance Committee on Oct. 5th, 2006

[Rob Slinger]

That's an interesting choice of terms, “sweet deal”. It was rammed down our throats, very bluntly. There was no choice, no discussion, no negotiation, and I don't know of an airport that thinks it was a negotiated deal.

The next step is, yes, the rents are going up, but it's not rent, it's simply a tax. In fact, they use tax methodology and they use tax definitions.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

I haven't heard that it was rammed down the throats of the GTAA. What I have heard is that not all the parties were at the table when the negotiating took place, particularly the airlines, which are in fact paying the freight. Is that the case here? Are the airlines driving the issue? In some respects, all you're doing is turning around and passing on your increased costs to the users.

[Rob Slinger]

When you split with the airlines, that is different at the big eight airports compared to the small airports. For the small airports, 46% of a landing fee is subsidized by the other financial activities at my airport. I need the freedom to generate more commercial revenues to continue that subsidy, otherwise the big airlines will overfly small airports. So it's inappropriate for small airports to pay this rent tax and take away money from the airline business.

[John McKay, Liberal, Scarborough—Guildwood, ON]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Thank you, Mr. McKay.

Mr. Del Mastro.

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

Wonderful, thank you.

Mr. Marit, I'm going to come back to you.

How much time do I have, Mr. Chairman?

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

About three and a half minutes.

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

Three and a half minutes. So I don't have very much time, and I have a lot of questions.

First of all, are you aware that you're in one of the provinces that is currently fighting the federal government to replace the CAIS program?

[David Marit]

Yes, I am.

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

Great.

I have argued, particularly for my producers in Ontario who produce grains and oilseeds, that the CAIS program is a race toward the bottom. In fact, it's going to lead them to complete financial devastation. Would you like to make a comment on that?

[David Marit]

I can only speak for the CAIS program in this province, and we've asked the federal government to make changes to it. It hasn't been working for the producers in this province. They've made some changes to it, so I guess my comment would be that I'd like to see how these changes are going to work. They've changed the reference margins, which is good, and they've changed the inventory evaluations. I really would like to see how those changes play out before I make any further comment.

The problem we have with it is that it's a timing thing. It's just way too long.

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

I've made the point that we unfortunately abandoned the NISA program about two years before it would have really worked for farmers, and it's unfortunate that those decisions were made.

Mr. Taylor, very quickly, does a lower tax rate mean lower tax revenues?

[Colin Taylor]

No.

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

Thank you. That's interesting, because some of the people at the other parts of the table would indicate that if you lower taxes, you are necessarily going to lower government revenues. In fact, it has the opposite opportunity, which is to grow the investment portfolio, which grows economies, which generates more revenues so that we can give more money to Ms. Brown, Ms. Jategaonkar, and the other people who are in the room, doesn't it? It makes more sense to give from a position of economic strength than to try to weaken the economy with higher taxes, doesn't it?

[Colin Taylor]

That's right.

[Dean Del Mastro, Conservative, Peterborough, ON]

Thank you. I appreciate that.

And just quickly, is there anybody at the table who would prefer a higher GST? No? Okay.

Thank you, Mr. Chair.

[The Chair, Conservative, Brian Pallister]

Thank you, Mr. Del Mastro.

Mr. Pacetti, to conclude.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Thank you, Mr. Chairman.

Just quickly, Mr. Marit, last year you were here and I think we talked a little bit more about the prairie grain road program and infrastructure, but this year you just skimmed those things. Is the program still an important part? Was it renewed? I didn't catch that part.

[David Marit]

No, it's still very important to us. We knew our timeframe, though, so we wanted to hit on a few topics.

This is the last year of the program. It was a great program for rural Saskatchewan to build an infrastructure in our road network. We would like to see some changes to it, because we went through the process. We would like to see agribusiness added to that criterion. We think it's a great program. It triggered and leveraged a lot of money in this province, both from the provincial government and from the municipalities.

As I say, it was a good federal program. We would sure like to see it renewed and enhanced.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

How much did you get for it from the federal government?

[David Marit]

The municipal portion that we received was $125 million. It was in that neighbourhood from the federal government, and then it leveraged provincial and municipal dollars over and above that amount.

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

Will that be replaced because of the gas tax transfer?

[David Marit]

No, the program has just come to its fruition. This year, 2006, is the last year, and now we're just trying to get—

[Massimo Pacetti, Liberal, Saint-Léonard—Saint-Michel, QC]

And you've had no indication as to whether or not it will be renewed.

[David Marit]

We haven't had an indication. That's why it's in the submission today.