Good morning.
Thank you very much for inviting me to participate in this meeting.
I agree with everything my colleague and friend Mr. Gradek said and with what my colleague Dr. Roy said.
At the observatory, we look at the Canadian situation, of course, but also the global situation. A comparison is constantly being made between the evolution of our system and that of other systems around the world. It's with this in mind that I'm speaking.
It should be noted, however, that the issue of competition isn't the same in Canada as it is elsewhere in the world. Think of our neighbours to the south, the United States, or our European friends. There are a number of reasons for this, first and foremost distance. In Europe, an airline can fly from Paris to Barcelona four or five times a day. In Canada, because of the distance, a rotation between Montreal and Vancouver cannot be done five times a day. So there's a kind of natural limitation.
There's also the issue of climate. Our climate means that airline operability and our infrastructure are a bit special. In addition, my colleague Jacques Roy very aptly mentioned population density, which isn't high enough here for the number of users to be equivalent. There's also a more sociological element, namely that airplane culture is less prevalent here than among our American and European friends. Add to that the issue of taxes, which has already been mentioned. You're looking at as much as $150 in airport taxes, government taxes, and so on. Right from the get‑go, this affects prices. It's important to bear in mind that the notion of competition in Canada is unique for these reasons.
There's also a certain lack of consistency here. One of the things that plays an important role, in addition to what my colleagues have quite rightly mentioned, is the availability of niche markets. This means that the major companies have their niche markets. However, smaller companies are suffering as a result. They're not able to get into niche markets. In addition, we mustn't forget that two major airports in Canada, Montréal‑Trudeau and Pearson, will be doing major work within 10 years, which will reduce the number of markets available and reinforce this kind of concentration among the major carriers.
It should also be pointed out—and we may have the opportunity to come back to this—that the role of the airlines is really important, but the issue of infrastructure must be integrated into the thinking. As my colleague Dr. Roy mentioned, there is a problem with consistency and governance at our airports, which is causing major difficulties. We're not investing enough in airport infrastructure.
Take the U.S. government, for example: In the first weeks of the pandemic, it stepped in with colossal support for airlines, as well as major investments in airports. This amounted to between $40 billion and $50 billion. For our part, all we did during that period was initially force our airports to stay open. During that period, their revenues declined by about 95%. As a result, even airports with positive balance sheets ended up in debt.
The Canadian government's investment in all airports does not exceed $500 million.
This kind of lack of consistency means that important competition instruments or levers don't work. Of course, it's in this context that small companies have a harder time positioning themselves and that competition becomes problematic.