Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
I want to say hello to all the speakers and to thank them for assisting us in our proceedings on Bill C-9.
I'm going to start with Mr. McKenna because his testimony is very important.
By way of a story, Mr. Chairman, we are getting ready for a family trip to Europe this summer for a wedding. My wife and I, our children and their respective spouses and our grand-daughter will be on that trip. For our air tickets, I've realized that this tax literally represents hundreds of dollars. It's incredible. This is the same government that says it is opposed to tax increases. This is an enormous direct tax increase for consumers, introduced immediately before the budget, as though people couldn't understand that it was a trick to conceal the fact that they were increasing it.
You're asking questions. Are these rhetorical questions or not? That's why I ask the question. Mr. McKenna, do you have the slightest indication that anyone is criticizing anything at ATAC regarding its productivity, efficiency or management capability? How do we compare, objectively, to what's being done elsewhere in the world? I know our tax is the highest in the world. The Conservatives tax Canadians more than people are taxed anywhere else in the world for this service. How does this service compare to what's being done elsewhere?