Madam Speaker, independent travel advisers across Canada represent 12,000 small business operators. They have been hit particularly hard by the pandemic. Their incomes have been devastated and in many cases reduced to zero. They work on 100% commission, with an average delay of 139 to 317 days before seeing a single dollar from any sale.
Without any global travel taking place, independent travel advisers and their families have been left in financial chaos. I was happy to see that WestJet will now offer ticket refunds, but these advisers are now concerned they will be forced to dig into their personal finances to pay commissions they earned nearly a year ago.
I call on the Minister of Transport to develop a plan for the aviation sector that protects our hard-working travel advisers.