Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Good afternoon, everybody.
Thank you for the invitation to speak about Toronto Pearson's significant contribution to Canada's economy, and how we can accelerate our performance with the right support from government.
Toronto Pearson is proud of its role in fostering prosperity for our country. We are Canada's largest airport, for both passenger and cargo traffic, and the second largest in North America for international passenger traffic, after JFK in New York. It's a global hub, with almost 44 million passengers this year, up from 41 million in 2015. We are continuing our growth on the world stage, creating jobs, facilitating an economic impact of almost $37 billion—which is 6% of Ontario's GDP—connecting Canadians and Canadian business to the world, and connecting the world to us.
By the mid-2030s—it's not that far from now—we are forecasted to serve upwards of 65 million passengers and facilitate $62 billion of Ontario's gross domestic product.
As a private, not-for-profit operator of the airport, the GTAA will continue to make the investments needed for the airport to become a world-class global hub. To be successful, however, we need our government partners to make investments in three key areas.
Number one, wait times for passenger screening on departure, and customs and immigration upon arrival, are not competitive globally. Long lines, flight delays, and missed connections negatively impact our air carriers, our passengers, and our global competitiveness as an airport, as a region, and as a country. Delays at both CATSA and CBSA checkpoints are major operational challenges. Government funding for both agencies has not kept up with passenger growth. It drags on our performance and will only become exacerbated as our growth continues to accelerate.
For CATSA, we have specifically requested the following: an increase in funding of a minimum of $20 million to deliver an international service standard of 95% of passengers screened in 10 minutes or less; funding to implement new technology that will increase throughput and productivity; and the ability and flexibility of airports to pay for a higher level of service should they desire to do so.
For CBSA, we require an investment in Toronto of $5 million in officers in order to reduce passenger wait times and improve critical connection performance for our air carriers.
Number two is changes to duty-free rules that will allow international and domestic passengers to purchase any product at a mixed departures zone—what we call “dual duty-free”. We also ask that arrivals duty-free be allowed. This is standard operating practice at any global hub across the world.
If both programs were implemented, we would repatriate approximately $100 million in sales currently spent at foreign airports, and not in Toronto or Canadian airports. We could generate 600 new direct and indirect jobs across the nation, and $12 million in incremental tax revenue for the federal government from airports across the country.
Last but not least, road congestion—not a surprise to anybody in this room—is reaching critical levels in the greater Toronto area. More than 300,000 people work in the airport employment zone, the second largest employment zone in the country. In fact, 49,000 people work at Toronto Pearson today. The area surrounding the Toronto airport has extremely limited transit options for people coming to work and for those using Pearson to connect to the country and of course to the world. It is imperative that we provide more options for people—for passengers, employees, and businesses—who depend upon the airport for success.
We do have a plan to develop a regional ground transportation hub at Pearson, at the airport itself, that complements Toronto's Union Station, providing connectivity for a region experiencing significant employment growth. It is a significant driver of jobs. In fact, it's becoming a real engine of it.
We ask the Government of Canada to continue to support municipal and provincial governments by providing cost-sharing of transit projects connecting to a multimodal hub at Toronto Pearson.
As the country's largest airport, by a factor of two, connecting Canada to 67% of the world's GDP, Toronto Pearson plays a critical role in the economic activity of the country.
This connectivity allows Canadian businesses to reach domestic and global markets, generate jobs and tax revenues, and facilitate trade, foreign direct investment, and tourism.
For Toronto Pearson to continue to drive economic growth, the federal government's programs need to evolve in step with the rising passenger and cargo growth numbers. We, at Toronto Pearson, are completely confident that these investments, combined with our strong relationship with the government, will result in increased economic vibrancy for Canada and a greater opportunity for all Canadians.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.