Ottawa, ON – Michelle Ferreri, Conservative Shadow Minister for Tourism, Melissa Lantsman, Conservative Shadow Minister for Transport and Chair of Outreach, and Bernard Genereux, Deputy Shadow Minister for Tourism, issued the following statement in response to comments made by the Minister of Transport trying to shift the blame to Canadians for unacceptable delays across Canada’s airports:

“In the face of a government that has repeatedly demonstrated a complete lack of preparedness for a return to normal across Canada, Minister Alghabra is blaming Canadians who are out of practice going through security for the long lines and delays, rather than his own incompetence leading to a lack of staffing.

“Once again, the Trudeau government is putting the blame on anything and everyone to cover up their failures. Canadians are eager to travel after a long two years, and our hard-hit tourism industry are eager for international travellers to return to Canada.

“Instead of accusing Canadian travellers of being the problem, Minister Alghabra should take responsibility for his file, and demand CATSA and CBSA meet their intended levels of service and meet their performance benchmarks.

“Conservatives will continue to call for removing the federal mandates on domestic travel, take a common-sense approach to solve issues with the ArriveCAN app, and hold this government accountable for failing to prepare for the reopening of Canada’s travel infrastructure and tourism industry. Stop blaming Canadians, start getting to work.”