Tourism Jasper is asking council to continue its support for a commercial airport in Edson, in order to increase tourism to the northern Rockies.
Currently, that support is $15,000 out of the 2014 operating budget to be pooled with funds from the towns of Edson and Hinton, as well as a matching $15,000 from Tourism Jasper, in order to hire consultants to write policy and lobby the federal government to increase Edson Airport鈥檚 security status.
This comes after a report completed last summer, that indicates the airport requires Canadian Air Transport Security Authority (CATSA) status in order to land commercial flights.
Following the release of that report, it looked like the project was dead in the water, but that all changed when Premier Alison Redford wrote a letter in favour of the security change.
鈥淪he has sent it to the federal government and she very much wants to see this,鈥� said Mary Darling, CEO of Tourism Jasper, while speaking to the municipality鈥檚 committee of the whole, Dec. 10. 鈥淪he has said that she cannot believe that people from Fort McMurray can get to Vegas quicker than they can get to Jasper.鈥�
Edson is one of five communities looking to attain CATSA status for their airports. The hold-up is the result of regulations that were put in place following Sept. 11, 2001. Since then, no new airports have received the status.
鈥淚t鈥檚 time to start changing this,鈥� said Darling. 鈥淥ur goal is to have a successful regulatory change or legislation change before the next federal election, which gives us until October 2015 as our ultimate deadline.鈥�
To achieve that goal, Tourism Jasper needs each of its partners to approve funding for further consulting work and it needs to form a working group complete with municipalities, tourism agencies, oil and gas companies and provincial ministers.
Tourism Jasper has been working with partners throughout the region since 2012 to study the feasibility of a commercial airport in Edson. The first study, which council contributed $8,000 to, showed that there are 200,000 annual seats available for Edson鈥檚 catchment area.
She noted, though, that of those 200,000 seats, a small number will be for tourism, while the rest will be for oil and gas.
During the Dec. 9 budget meeting, Peter Waterworth, chief administrative officer, put a number on that small amount. 鈥淭he tourism element is probably 10 per cent of the business that would be generated,鈥� he said.
Upon hearing that, members of the public were quick to question whether it鈥檚 worth spending another $15,000 on the project for such a small payoff.
鈥淚 would caution council and town administrators on where our money is being spent,鈥� said Art Jackson.
Jack Templeton agreed.
鈥淵ou have to really take a hard look at whether you鈥檙e going to get any bang for your buck for the amount you spend on studies like that,鈥� he said.
Mayor Richard Ireland and Coun. Gilbert Wall also voiced some concerns, suggesting it鈥檚 odd that the parties with the most to gain from a regional commercial airport鈥攖he oil and gas industry and the airlines themselves鈥攁ren鈥檛 currently at the table, contributing funds.
Of the airlines鈥擶estJet and Air Canada鈥擠arling said 鈥渢his is the way that they do business. If they were the ones that wanted to start trying to land in every regional airport, that would be a lot of dollars for them.鈥�
As for the oil and gas industry, she said they are being engaged and will be engaged further when the working group starts to meet in the new year.
Within the proposed budget for 2014, there is a line item in the amount of $10,000 for a regional airport study.
聽Nicole Veerman
[email protected]
