Madam Speaker, I want to thank my colleague from the New Democratic Party for her compelling presentation in the House today. She, like other members on both sides of the House, is very concerned about this new air security tax.
This poll driven, focus group economics government does not build public policy around what Canadians need but rather builds public policy around the fears driving the polls today. It is such a focus group, poll driven government that everything is focused on what it believes will quell public opinion in the short term, but very clearly ignores the long term needs of Canadians.
The air security tax is based on fear. The government is trying to raise a $1 billion surplus to what is actually needed to provide the security Canadians require. The air security tax would raise an additional $1 billion which is like EI fund 2 or Liberal gouge 2, the sequel to the EI fund. The finance department has underestimated air traffic over the next several years in such a way that this tax is inflated to create a $1 billion surplus over the next several years. How unconscionable can the government behave when we see it use September 11 as a vehicle through which to raise $1 billion for other spending activities?
At a time of economic tumult the government has put a $2.2 billion tax on Canada's most vulnerable industry, the airline industry. It carried out no impact analysis on the regions of the country, on smaller struggling airports that are having difficulty making ends meet or on competition in Canadian air space which we have already seen with the loss of Canadian, Canada 3000, Royal and CanJet under the government's stewardship.