Municipal airports in crisis.

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 result was kind enough to send a letter to federal Health Minister, Tony Clement, who is also minister responsible for FedNor, asking for his intervention. Wait, this story has a second chapter.

While there is an attempt to deal with the capital deficit, there remains the annual operating deficit that each of these airports incurs. Each airport is used by private aircraft as a fueling station or a base. The major uses, however, come from various ministries of the Provincial Crown; most often Health for air ambulance and Natural Resources for shuttling crews, purchasing fuel and storage of equipment for the fighting of forest fires across the North. Municipalities do not receive a user fee for maintaining the airports. Instead, they must rely upon the meager funds generated through fuel sales, landing fees and the like to offset the annual operating costs. In some cases, the annual operating costs are incremental to the use by a particular ministry, thus increasing a given deficit. The annual operating deficits are always funded by tax dollars generated through local property taxation. How fair is that?

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The NESMG has been attempting to address the second chapter of this sad story with the province of Ontario for the past three years. The matter has been specifically addressed with the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines as the lead Ministry in the North and they have graciously attempted to bring the appropriate parties "to the table" for discussion. Unfortunately, all efforts have so far been proven fruitless. The NESMG is no further ahead in 2006 as it was in 2003. Meanwhile, the budgetary clock continues to tick on the status of the small town Northern Ontario airport. The one saving grace for all small airports may be the impending report by the Airport Management Conference of Ontario. Funded in part by the Ministry of Northern Development and Mines, the report, due in October 2006, is expected to comment on the future of these airports. Let's hope it contains the "magic elixir" that is necessary to prevent an all out extinction of small municipal airports in Northern Ontario.

Chris Wray is the CAO/Clerk for the Township of Michipicoten.