Evidence of meeting #19 for Finance in the 40th Parliament, 3rd Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was business.
A recording is available from Parliament.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Transport Association of Canada
We represent members from across Canada that do all kinds of commercial aviation, be they large carriers or the lifeline that's operating up north or--
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Transport Association of Canada
No, Air Canada and WestJet are not members of our association.
Conservative
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Transport Association of Canada
Well, there are Porter, Sunwing, and many other airlines. There are 600 commercial airlines in Canada.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Transport Association of Canada
One hundred and eighty-five.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Okay. I'll look it up on your website and I'll find out who your members are.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Transport Association of Canada
I'll send you a list if you want it, sir.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
I'll look at your website.
You really don't like CATSA, period. Is that basically it?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Transport Association of Canada
Sir, we have nothing against CATSA. My words weren't criticizing CATSA here today, not at all.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Air Transport Association of Canada
Sir, we are concerned that CATSA.... We want to make sure they're efficient. We have no proof of that. We're concerned by what they're doing. We are not criticizing CATSA. We have no grounds to criticize CATSA, because it's not being compared to anything else other than the rate we are being charged. CATSA is not charging this money; the government is charging the money.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Okay. I appreciate that.
On the remailer issue, I don't think it is an issue. We've heard from Canada Post. We heard yesterday from Canada Post employees. We heard from the remailers today. I think what's in here is doable and workable, so I don't think that's an issue.
I am saving some time for Mr. Goldstein because he didn't get any questions.
I do have some questions for you, Mr. Goldstein--sorry, my friend.
I want to be clear on something. You represent the Tourism Industry Association. Do you believe in user fees, period? Or do you think the taxpayer should pay for everything?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
First of all, Air Canada and WestJet are members of my organization, as well as 400 other small and medium-sized businesses across the country--
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Okay. If you could answer my question.... I only have five minutes.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
Yes, there should be a mix, much like there is in all other jurisdictions. But here in Canada, we're one of the few in the G20 or G8 where exclusively this is on the back of the consumer. As I said in my presentation, 63% of those security fees in the U.S., our greatest competitor--
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Do you know what percentage of Canadians actually take flights in a year? Do you know if it's 10%, 50%, or 80% of Canadians who take flights?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
We'll get back to the committee with that information.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Because to me, user fees are usually designed.... I'll give you a fine example. When I was on council at the City of Burlington, there was a lot of pressure on us from the hotel association and the tourism business to charge a specific fee for every room that got rented in the town, which they would use for marketing. That was a little bit of an issue, but they got it.
Now they're flush, let me put it that way, and they're doing well, and they're able to market. Instead of relying on the tax base from the city, they relied on the users of those rooms to do further marketing to refill those rooms.
It's a hard sell, to be honest with you, Mr. Goldstein, to say that everybody should be paying for the safety costs of flights, when I think—and I don't know for sure—that the vast majority of Canadians aren't taking flights on a regular basis.
President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
Well, I think the vast majority of Canadians benefit from secure transportation infrastructure. That is the first answer to the question.
The second part, frankly, is that if we are the chosen industry, we're hoping you'll choose someone else. The airline industry alone suffers from three-quarters of a billion dollars per year of special consideration, whether it's special fuel charges, whether it's the ATS funding that we're talking about today, or whether it's airport rents. So what we have done is that we've created a competitive imbalance for our travel infrastructure here in Canada.
Our point today, sir, is that we believe the government has recognized this. That's why the Prime Minister came out last April and said that we need a holistic tourism strategy. Unfortunately, it continues to be undermined through the cherry-picking of different initiatives like this one, and it's unfortunate....
I share the views of perhaps some of my colleagues: it's unfortunate that we are here today amongst this debate. These are all worthy issues that we're here to discuss, but by Statistics Canada's own numbers, the tourism industry is bigger than fisheries, agriculture, and forestry combined, and we are whittled away through a cherry-picking of initiatives largely because our issues are across the federal government in various federal departments.
Conservative
Mike Wallace Conservative Burlington, ON
Do you have any sense in terms of the volume of flights of how many are for business purposes and how many are purely for what I would call tourism?
President and Chief Executive Officer, Tourism Industry Association of Canada
I'd be happy to provide you with those numbers, but the schedule that is a part of this proposed bill, the fee schedule, tells you per person what it's going to cost, what the fees are going to increase....
Conservative
The Chair Conservative James Rajotte
Thank you, Mr. Wallace.
I want to thank all the witnesses for being with us here today.
Because it was raised, I just want to clarify as the chair with respect to official languages and document distribution. I do want to read it into the record. It's in chapter 20 of O'Brien and Bosc:
The public has the right to communicate with a parliamentary committee in either official language, as stipulated in the Constitution Act, 1982 and the Official Languages Act. However, Members sitting on a committee are entitled to receive documents in the official language of their choice. Committees usually adopt a routine motion to ensure that all documents distributed to committee members will be in both official languages....
That is as this committee has done. That's why we do not distribute documents unless they're in both official languages. It continues:
When a committee receives a document in one official language, the clerk of the committee has it translated into the other official language before it is distributed to committee members.
I did want to read that into the record to clarify matters.
I do appreciate the witnesses coming in on such short notice in terms of timelines, so I do want to thank you all for being here today.
Monsieur Carrier.