Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm going to continue the discussion from earlier.
I'd like to go back up a bit to talk about the programs put in place during the pandemic. People who are watching will then understand why I'm bringing this up.
During the pandemic, the Government of Quebec set up the regional air service assistance program. The program no longer exists today, but it made it possible to continue providing air service in the regions.
In a press release on August 6, 2020, the federal government announced another program to provide essential air transportation for remote communities. The backgrounder that accompanied the release provided a definition of sorts for “remote communities”. In any case, it was estimated that 182 communities were considered remote. A look at the list of communities obviously showed that many of them were in Quebec. In fact, when I looked at the list, I saw that these are essentially places with no road access.
I'm very pleased to know that an unserved area is being considered a remote community and has been made a priority. However, it also meant that all areas with road access were no longer eligible for the program. Fortunately, we had the proverbial regional air access program, which nevertheless delivered assistance people could count on.
The Deputy Minister of Transport appeared before the committee a few weeks ago. I asked him whether, in his opinion, air transportation service in the regions was an essential service. I couldn't get him to say it was. As part of our study in committee today, we also voted on a budget to visit the regions. We haven't talked about areas of Quebec that may not have road access.
Having made this long aside, my question is for the representatives of the Union des municipalités du Québec.
Do people still need air transportation service, even if they're 10 hours away or 900 km from a city like Montreal?
Is it an essential service, or do people no longer need it once their town has road access?