Municipal airports in crisis.

• Author: Wray, Chris
• Position: NEWS

Located in small town Northern Ontario, it may be found on a lonely concession road or a major highway. It was constructed and built over the years using funds from both the federal and provincial governments and maintained in the last 10 years through the Federal Airports Capital Assistance Program (ACAP). It most often operates with an annual operating deficit, which is in turn funded totally by the local taxpayer. In the past it was used to shuttle passengers back and forth across the North. It graciously served the needs of provincial ministries such as the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Natural Resources to move the gravely ill or participate as a silent, but effective, partner in the ongoing fight of forest fires in Northern Ontario. It has received prime ministers and premiers alike. It is a key piece of infrastructure and it is in danger of extinction.

It is the small town Northern Ontario municipal airport. Located in communities across the north such as Hornepayne, Manitouwadge, Chapleau and Wawa, municipal airports are endangered. This observation comes at a time when municipalities are very concerned about the state of all infrastructure. Airports, more times than not, are taken for granted by some. They are there, they provide services and are a constant budgetary concern for mayors, councils and their CAO's.

The Northeastern Superior Mayors' Group (NESMG) has been trying to address these very issues over the course of the past six years. The group started out by attempting to conserve air passenger service from Hornepayne to Chapleau through Manitouwadge and Wawa by using Thunder Bay and Sudbury as the anchor at either end of the route. Unfortunately, to maintain a passenger service requires ongoing subsidies from the member communities, something that was not financially feasible. The loss of this service in each community in 2002, meant they did not meet the requirements of the Federal Airports Capital Assistance Program (ACAP). The program had previously provided the much-needed capital dollars to ensure the airports were kept to the appropriate standard. Attempts have been made to request a change to the governing regulations. The group met in 2001 with then Federal Transportation Minister, David Collenette, to discuss such a change. The visit raised the profile, but did not result in the required change. Recently, Northern Development and Mines Minister Rick Bartolucci discussed the matter with the group and as a...