News
CBAA lends its support to “Ground the Flight Tax” campaign
Nov. 11, 2014, Ottawa - The Canadian Business Aviation Association (CBAA) has given its full support to the Ontario “Ground the Flight Tax” petition campaign launched earlier this month, calling for a moratorium on the hike, pending meaningful consultation and a full study of its adverse impact on Ontario’s economy.
November 11, 2014 By Carey Fredericks
“The economic impact of the tax is bad enough but the fact that it was imposed without consultation and without consideration of the impacts is even more concerning.” said Rudy Toering, president of the Canadian Business Aviation Association. “In our view, this demonstrates a total disregard for the importance of the aviation sector as a catalyst of economic growth.”
The business aviation community, which includes corporate, charter and other forms of private, non-scheduled commercial aviation, generates thousands of direct jobs and almost a billion dollars in direct economic input in the province of Ontario alone.
“Ontario is our sector’s largest base of operations, and it is not only major corporations who rely on us.” said harpe, Chair of the Ontario Chapter of the CBAA, and director of Charter Sales at Charter Air Transportation Services Inc. (CATS). “In fact, there are numbers of manufacturing plants in smaller Ontario towns and communities that rely on business aviation – and the only way these businesses can make it work is because of the flexibility that their business aircraft provide. This tax may end up being a death knell for even greater numbers of manufacturers in smaller communities across Ontario.”
The Ontario decision is out of step with other Canadian provinces, including British Columbia, New Brunswick, Quebec, and Saskatchewan which have removed some or all of the aviation fuel tax in order to maintain their provinces’ competitive positions.
“This problem doesn’t stop at Ontario’s borders” said Toering. “Business aviation operators from across Canada, the US and from around the world, fly into this province, and nothing will prevent them from hopping to another jurisdiction to refuel and save tens or even hundreds of thousands of dollars. Every dollar not spent in Ontario is a net loss to the province.
“Frankly, we are tired of governments seeing aviation as nothing more than a cash cow.” Toering concluded. “The reality is that aviation – and business aviation in particular – is an engine of economic growth, not a gravy train.”
