Madam Speaker, the member opposite in his question to my colleague for Calgary Southeast, the Alliance finance critic, used the fact that a round trip ticket from Vancouver to Halifax was about $4,800 to defend his perspective that the air security tax was a legitimate one.
The fact that a round trip ticket between Vancouver and Halifax costs $4,800 is a startling indictment of the government's air and transportation policy. It speaks volumes about the government's failure to maintain competition in Canadian airspace and to oversee the greatest level of consolidation in the history of the Canadian air industry, with a resultant diminution of services and an increase in the price for ordinary Canadian consumers and traveller. Does the Alliance finance critic agree with me?