Mr. Speaker, my question is for the finance minister.
WestJet has announced that it will be cutting flights as a direct result of the government's security tax, Canada's new GST. Halifax airport is laying off a quarter of its workforce. The air travel complaints commissioner has called this new GST an extravagant amount. He is getting numerous complaints against it.
It costs $5.1 million a year to operate Thunder Bay airport but this tax is taking $8 million from that community.
This tax is devastating the air and tourism industries in Canada which, by the way, bring in some $17 billion of tax revenue annually. In view of the $7 billion to $10 billion surplus, why does the minister not repeal this tax?