Transport committee  Mr. Williams, that's a great question. Airports are economic enablers. If you can't move it, you can't sell it. We're no different than a highway. A retention of our current airlines is critical. They will provide the lift that the marketplace needs, but if we lose another carrier or two, we're heading to smaller volumes, and airfare may become something that you plan a budget for.

Transport committee  I think anything we can do, Mr. Williams, to make our airlines more viable and make the viability of our airlines and airports simpler and easier for the domestic passenger helps all Canadians.

Transport committee  Yes. These are assets that are like economic enablers. We work with our airline partners, WestJet and Flair, and then we work within the parameters they need. We lobby for the things they need. As a whole, if you move it, you will sell it. I think we can grow the volumes in Canada to make—

Transport committee  That's a good question. The brand is always Canada. Obviously, the regulatory framework at airlines and airports always needs to remain competitive nationally, globally and internationally. When we designed the business model at Abbotsford, in parallel with the feedback from our airline partners, it was designed to be more competitive than those of most U.S. airports, and that was our ability to bring back....

Transport committee  We have to be sustainable within our own revenue streams. We cannot cost the taxpayers of Abbotsford any money. We've reinvested $100 million since 1997 into infrastructure at the airport, which supports our aerospace companies and airlines. We have no debt today. We did get provincial and federal strategic investments within that portfolio, but we are a business unit that does not cost the taxpayers of Abbotsford any money.

Transport committee  We are a platform for business. We are a public asset. We enable our airlines. Our airlines are doing whatever they can to continue to make travel more affordable and accessible for Canadians. Nothing comes easy for secondary and tertiary airports like ours, Kitchener and Hamilton.

Transport committee  Good morning, Mr. Chair and committee members. Thank you for having me here today to showcase our unique business model at Abbotsford airport and how we've been playing a role in the movement of goods and people. In 1996, we had 3,000 passengers, and our biggest revenue source as a line item as an airport was raspberries grown on the airfield.