Thank you, Mr. Speaker. I will be voting against this Supplementary Estimate (Operations Expenditures), No. 3, 2021-2022.

Mr. Speaker, for our government to not continue supporting small airlines during an extremely volatile financial situation is not okay. During the pandemic, we provided financial aid to businesses to help them stay afloat and not go out of business. But for many of these businesses, they are not out of the woods yet. Many of them are still struggling to get back on their feet to try and level out again. Most businesses have gone further and further into debt during this pandemic so it will be a while before they are in the black in again with their financials. Our government must continue helping businesses until they are financially fit to continue doing so on their own.

Mr. Speaker, Fort Smith, like many communities in the Northwest Territories, only has one airline operating full time in our regions. My community depends heavily on the existence of our airline for many reasons. The business I am talking about is locally-owned where the owners are actually living in the community. In addition, this airline has to pay for several financial commitments that are mandated by Transport Canada be done on their planes. Those costs all add up to in excess of $500,000 US.

For airline businesses, the level of business they get is different every month and every season. Some months are good. Some months are bad. So to say that overall they make too much money to qualify for financial aid is not all right. Our government is not looking at the big picture when it comes to financial aid for businesses.

To only look at one small financial snapshot during a particular timeframe is not the right way to be approaching this. No business has made too much money during this pandemic so to state that is patently false.

Mr. Speaker, for these reasons, I cannot support the supplementary appropriation. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.