The Harper Govt's taxation policy is killing business.
http://www.atlanticbusinessmagazine....up-in-the-air/
"According to the World Economic Forum’s 2008 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, Canada ranked 114 out of 130 nations surveyed for overall “price competitiveness” and 122nd for “ticket taxes and airport charges”, even while it scored first for “air transport infrastructure”. The same survey last year showed improvement in the overall standings (105 in price and first, again, for infrastructure), but the country dropped to 125th place in the metric of taxes and charges. “Canada is losing 5 million Canadian passengers to the U.S. annually,” she says. “And that equates to $1.3 billion in lost Canadian GDP and $200 million in lost tax revenue.”
Indeed, according to the World Economic Forum’s 2008 Travel and Tourism Competitiveness Report, Canada ranked 114 out of 130 nations surveyed for overall “price competitiveness” and 122nd for “ticket taxes and airport charges”, even while it scored first for “air transport infrastructure”. The same survey last year showed improvement in the overall standings (105 in price and first, again, for infrastructure), but the country dropped to 125th place in the metric of taxes and charges.
As a result, Macleans Magazine reported last year, “Over the years, a host of foreign airlines, from Hong Kong’s Cathay Pacific and Israel’s El Al to Virgin America and Frontier Airlines, have either shelved expansion plans or stopped f lying to Canada altogether . . . airfares . . . are, on average, up to $120 more expensive than in the United States, according to some estimates.”