Mr. Speaker, the hon. member is well aware that after the merging of Canadian Airlines and Air Canada, we set up a system, under Bill C-26, to protect services to small communities across the country, for a period of three years.
Air Canada now has the right to leave any city. In our opinion, if Air Canada stops serving a small community, it will be replaced by another carrier in that community.
We saw it happen in Newfoundland, for example, and in other communities across the country.