Mr. Speaker, the travel and tourism industry has suffered and is still suffering from the September 11 events.
Travel agencies are among the hardest hit. Most of them are small businesses that lost their revenues when the airspace was closed.
Their work is intimately related to that of airlines, since they are often the ones that print tickets and deal with customers.
The U.S. government has already designed a program to help travel agencies that are suffering. However, no such measure has been taken in Canada.
The Association of Canadian Travel Agents is asking, justifiably so, to be compensated for losses estimated at $20 million.
I remind the Minister of Finance that if it was important to help airline carriers, it is just as important to support travel agencies. Otherwise, tens of these small and medium size businesses will disappear in each of our ridings.