Mr. Speaker, witnesses from the transport department admitted at committee that this tax would be imposed on travel even from airports which do not provide security service.
The Vancouver International Airport Authority, for instance, operates a subterminal called the Vancouver South Terminal, out of which there are 10 and 15 minute float plane flights to places like Salt Spring Island, with a $30 or $40 fare. The transport official told us at committee that people flying out of a subterminal of the Vancouver airport will end up paying the $24 round trip tax on what could be a $30 base price ticket but that there will be no security there. One does not go through a screening machine to get on a four person float plane to go to Salt Spring Island from Vancouver.
How can the government charge a tax for a service that is not rendered? How can it force people to pay for security that they do not get and, frankly, in that instance they do not need?