Thank you very much, Madam Chair.
Welcome, Minister. It's a pleasure to be here today to benefit from your presence.
I don't know if you and your team had the opportunity to listen to Professor Ebrahimi's testimony on the issue of airports. He wonders whether it should be a cash cow or more of a lever for economic development. I think you know him, this professor. He's quite well known in Quebec, in Canada and abroad for his research findings. He wasn't against privatizing airports. He said that there was some thought needed beforehand. He felt that the government hadn't done that. Before privatizing them, it might be better to have an idea of the direction we want our airports to take.
In my colleague's riding of Côte-Nord—Kawawachikamach—Nitassinan, there are many concerns about moving forward with privatization without really thinking beforehand about what we want. I don't know if you have seen that in the press review. The region already isn't served very well. People on the Côte‑Nord and elsewhere have expressed a lot of concerns.
Why do you want to privatize the airports?
Do you think the private sector, whose goal is to make money, will manage the airports better?