Thank you, Chair.
Welcome to all of our guests today.
I'll say hello first of all to Mr. Veldman. I was chatting with some of your folks at Prince Rupert Port Authority yesterday, and they gave me a quick overview of your long-term plans. Congratulations. It looks great, actually, and they advised me of some of the support you're getting through the Canada Infrastructure Bank and the national trade corridors fund.
I remember that when Prince Rupert stepped up to the plate when the floods in B.C. washed out the highways and railways and so on, it was critically important to our supply chain, so thank you for that.
Mr. Chair, first of all, I want to read a statement I have here that I've been thinking about.
In response to the pandemic, the Government of Canada has put in place a number of financial support measures, such as the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy; the Business Credit Availability Program; and, the Large Employer Emergency Financing Facility, to assist all sectors of the economy, including air transportation.
For the air sector, the Government of Canada has provided rent relief from March to December 2020 for the 21 airport authorities that have ground leases with the federal government, as well as to comparable treatment for Ports Toronto, which operates Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.
Funding of up to $191.3 million for provinces and territories was also announced to ensure continuity of essential goods and services to remote fly-in communities.
[In addition,] the Government of Canada announced an additional $1.1 billion in financial support for the air sector through a series of targeted measures designed to support regional connectivity, critical infrastructure investments and the continued operation of Canada's airports.
As I listened to our witnesses, I was thinking back to when we were designing these programs and trying to work with the airline industry. I just want to ask this to Mr. Perry: How much more do you think the federal government should have provided, and can you provide a dollar amount to that question?