Transport committee  Yes, exactly. It's an area where there's still a tremendous amount that needs to be done. The one thing we found quite interesting is that in many of these northern jurisdictions Canada in fact is already taking either a leadership role or a co-leadership role with other northern jurisdictions to look at things such as the impact of permafrost degradation on northern transportation.

Transport committee  We didn't look specifically at a carbon tax. The one thing we heard from industry and the air sector—and I think one of the other members pointed this out too—was the cost of travel and how the ticket prices would compare between a traveller, say, from Seattle going to northern Alaska, and a traveller from Vancouver going to northern Canada.

Transport committee  Absolutely, yes.

Transport committee  Sure.

Transport committee  That's an excellent point, and we have certainly heard from a number of northern operators who have in fact been, as you pointed out, retrofitting aircraft and really extending the life of aircraft that have been around for quite some time to address the issue of gravel strips in many of these communities.

Transport committee  Absolutely.

Transport committee  That's an excellent question, because it's certainly one that was brought up to us by a number of the northern intervenors whom we consulted. In many of these airports, for some of the security requirements that are being imposed, it's a one-size-fits-all approach, so that if it's true for an airport like Vancouver, it's true for an airport in Iqaluit or Yellowknife or for one of the northern airports.

Transport committee  We didn't specifically look at ultra-low-cost carriers and a managed approach into our market. The one thing we did look at is ultra-low-cost carriers as a whole, as a group. I think it would be fair to say that there have been no examples in which ultra-low-cost carriers would be seen or perceived to be less safe than non-ultra-low-cost carriers.

Transport committee  Yes, yes, and yes, absolutely. I think you've answered Ms. Young's question better than I could have, in that one thing we as a panel could hope for is exactly what you're talking about. For a country that depends on transportation as much as Canada does because of our geography and our population distribution, one of the things that are missing is in fact a national transportation strategy that takes into account all of the various elements that would make our transportation system work better for the future.

Transport committee  No, I did not.

Transport committee  Not to my knowledge.

Transport committee  We studied regional airport services, but most of these airports are not a part of the National Airports System.

Transport committee  We focused our efforts on studying the airports that are a part of the network.

Transport committee  Absolutely. Because of the deadlines we were given, we were unable to study all of the airports and all of the files we would have liked to look at more in depth.

Transport committee  Absolutely.