Finance committee  For the private aerodromes for which we understood this to be intended, it sounds like a reasonable rationale.

Finance committee  Yes.

International Trade committee  Ladies and gentlemen of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to address you today on the subject of Canada's international air bilaterals. I understand you have already heard from Vancouver Airport Authority, which is one of our member airports. My comments will be prese

International Trade committee  I don't know that I could add much to what my colleague in Calgary indicated. Certainly, air cargo is a more expensive way of shipping, so we see higher value goods go by air. We've seen a fair bit of growth; particularly as Canadian carriers have grown their international rout

International Trade committee  I think it's fair to say that most of our members generally believe that liberalization has been a good thing when you look at open skies agreements. For example, the United States has concluded quite a few around the world. Generally, they have opened up air services and benefit

International Trade committee  Certainly, we understand that visa-related issues are one of the biggest concerns that China has. That's what I'm hearing from our members. We have a tremendous opportunity to grow traffic between China and Canada by taking advantage of that growth in air travel between China and

Finance committee  Thank you. Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen of the committee, and colleagues on the panel, thank you for the opportunity to speak to you today on two areas of urgency to Canada's airports. One is infrastructure funding criteria for six small airports on federal land. The other is

Finance committee  The six small airports that I've identified, including Charlottetown, Fredericton, and Prince George, are in smaller communities and have lower traffic volumes. These are all airports that handle fewer than 600,000 passengers a year. Even when the national airports policy was bei

Finance committee  Mr. Chair, ladies and gentlemen, thank you for the invitation to appear before you today as part of the pre-budget consultations. The Canadian Airports Council appreciates the committee's support in the recommendations last year and the opportunity to appear before you today. Th

Finance committee  As I was saying, almost entirely through self-financing, that is, through travellers. This approach has enabled Canada to develop an airport infrastructure that is recognized as the best in the world. Air travel is essential in a country such as Canada. The number of passengers

Finance committee  I have a minor correction: airports are actually private today, since they were transferred to local airport authorities starting in 1992. They are private businesses, but they operate on a not-for-profit basis. There was a recommendation in the Emerson report, which came out ea

Finance committee  The recommendations are being reviewed. I'm not sure what the government is considering, but there were recommendations in the report and Transport and Finance are evaluating those. I can't speak to the government's mindset, but certainly the topic is being reviewed, yes.

Finance committee  Yes.

Finance committee  I'm sorry to hear that. The team at CATSA and the team at CBSA have some fantastic people, and they are working very hard to protect our country. We're seeing strains at both groups, CATSA and CBSA. I'd say it's fair to say that CBSA has been a little bit slower. It's happening m

Finance committee  We're talking about air gateways into their communities. Prince George is about an eight- to 10-hour drive from Vancouver as I understand it. I've never done it. I might be really wrong, but it's a long drive. Charlottetown, the only air gateway in Prince Edward Island, is a majo