Mr. Speaker, when the government downloaded all its money losing airports to local governments in 1994, it removed the onsite airport firefighting requirement.
Now that local governments have their airports operating cost effectively, the government wants to reintroduce onsite firefighting requirements. This move will force most small airport operations into a deficit.
Recent studies indicate that the benefits from these services are marginally sufficient to justify their costs at the 28 busiest national airports.
Why is the government proposing to reintroduce this requirement for 123 local airports when its own studies indicate that they are of marginal benefit for the 28 national busiest airports in the country?