Madam Speaker, I listened with great interest to the debate today. I heard the minister's speech and my colleague's speech.
She talked about having an open debate, which is right. She talked about certain issues like regional communities being serviced, employees and the excellent airlines that we have. I agree with her. There is no question that we have great airlines. She made a good point. We do not oppose that; we agree with it.
However, we do have differences. We know there is a definite need to restructure the airline industry in Canada and that we are facing the prospect of one airline. If the ownership rule was raised, as the Competition Bureau chief said, we do not see any danger in that. We see that as meaning that jobs will be protected, the excellent service will continue and the skills in the aviation industry will remain in this country. We do not see a danger. As a matter of fact, we see our two airlines growing, providing Canadians with more opportunity for jobs.
Why are we becoming restrictive? The Minister of Transport would like to raise it to 25%. What is the problem in restricting this to 49% to improve competition? We would have a healthy aviation industry in this country.