Mr. Speaker, it is the small and medium size airports in this country that are hit the hardest by the government's airport rents policy.
What is stunning though is that the CEO of the Regina airport authority is getting into the face of the Minister of Finance, who is from Regina, saying, “Are you mad? Your policies are damaging the ability of our airport to increase our services”.
It was in fact just a week and a half ago that Air Canada said that it is going to eliminate jet service into the entire province of Saskatchewan. It is replacing them with Dash 8s. That is Air Canada going on a good business model, but it has smaller planes because there are fewer passengers. There are fewer passengers because the government looks at the air industry as a source of revenue through taxes galore.
The Conservative Party would reform the management of airport authorities to ensure that all voices are heard in the airport authorities. I would prefer a Nav Canada type model imposed on the airport authorities so that all voices are heard, so airport improvement fees are not going through the roof, so there is accountability for the rents that are being paid to Ottawa. Over time, a Conservative government would phase out airport rents, get rid of the $24 air tax, have competition in our skies and put passengers rather than bureaucrats first.