Mr. Speaker, I appreciate my colleague from Saskatoon West reminding me that I am splitting my time with the member for Cloverdale—Langley City.
Guess who also did not have to wait for handouts from the Liberal government. Former Liberal member of Parliament Frank Baylis received about a third of a billion dollars for ventilators not even approved anywhere in the country. We have small businesses, restaurants and airlines all waiting for action by the government, but there is nothing. However, for those connected to the Liberal Party, the ATM is open and they can go on in.
I grew up in the hospitality industry. I worked from Victoria to Newfoundland, in northern Alberta and northern Ontario. The hotel and restaurant tourism industry is an incredible industry. It is larger than farming, mining, fishing and forestry. It is also the very first job for many newcomers to our country and many young people. Decades and decades ago it was an industry in which women had broken the glass ceiling, long before banking, government or any other industry. It was also a warm and welcoming industry for those in the LGBTQ community, where they could be accepted without worry. It is an incredible industry. More important than just the finances this industry creates, there is also the social aspect as a first job. We need action from the government to support this industry.
A lot of things could be done right now, such as returning the HST-GST to hotels, supporting cities so they can grant property tax referrals to small businesses in the hotels and setting up tax credits for future conferences, when we come out of the pandemic, to help large employers and hotels. We could open up the parks for free stays and reduce fees at airports. A quarter of a billion dollars are collected in security fees, more than is paid out for security at airports. I heard the transport minister chime in earlier, and I hope this is something at which he will look. NavCan increased its fees. Airlines are getting wiped out. Their loads are down 90% and NavCan is increasing fees and security fees are going up. We could do a lot of things.
We hear numbers like 60% of restaurants could be shut down by the end of the pandemic. This is a perfect time for the Liberal government to eliminate the escalator fees for taxes. People may not know that these taxes go up every year and they are not approved by Parliament. They and happen automatically. Now is the perfect time to eliminate them. We could get rid of the added carbon tax that is hurting small businesses.
The government should be doing a lot of things to help small businesses, hotels, restaurants, travel agents and the airlines. It is time for the government to stop leaving Canadians behind and to start looking after them, not just Liberal insiders such as at WE or other well-connected insiders. It is time to put Canadians first, which is why I support this motion 100%.