Sudbury repositioning airport as catalyst for economic development. (Sudbury: Special Report).

The air terminal building at Greater Sudbury Airport will undergo a $6.34-million expansion and renovation project with the intent to encourage economic development in Northern Ontario.

The federal government is giving approximately $5.5 million toward the new project, while the difference of $84,000 will come from City of Greater Sudbury.

"The airport was used in its early days as an emergency landing strip for the Ministry of National Defense," Mayor Jim Gordon says.

Today the Greater Sudbury officials want to make the airport viable for transporting passengers and goods in and out of Sudbury to all of Canada.

"We want to make this a first-class facility," Gordon says.

"It will be the key to trade and tourist initiatives."

Nickel Belt MP Ray Bonin echoes the same sentiments. He too believes the airport can provide a niche for Northern Ontario investors, particularly in the transport of goods to and from destination spots.

"Perishable foods and other goods are flown in to Rankin Inlet and other places from Ottawa and Montreal," Bonin says. "This is where it should be coming from, and this is why the Canadian government is investing."

While the federal government is ready to supply the necessary financial contributions toward the airport project, it is up to Greater Sudbury to attract investors to the area to keep the airport financially sound, says Bonin.

"If there is one thing our government realizes is that we are not very good at operating our airports," Bonin admits. "The country was going bankrupt with our governments trying to run businesses."

Instead, Bonin wants to provide the financial means where he can allow private businesses to enter into the equation.

"Small businesses who provide mining companies with supplies have developed skills unmatched anywhere in the world. When it comes to mining equipment, we are the best. Really, that is an economy of itself."

By providing an environment for such businesses to transport goods to and from the airport, Bonin believes the Sudbury area could capitalize on economic growth.

As it is now, the airport is used mostly as a passenger-transport facility.

"The community is putting too much emphasis on passenger travel. There is no money in that. We have to transport cargo."

In order for investors to consider cargo flights for businesses, they require the development of industrial land surrounding the airport.

"Without an industrial park, let's not waste our money," Bonin says.

He expects the community to initialize groundwork for development sites.

"We can have all the ideas we want; the community has to take the initiative."

That seems to be the next item on the Greater Sudbury Airport Development Corp.'s agenda.

"We are looking at how we can go about developing sites for companies," Gordon says.

For now, the Sudbury Airport Community Development Corp. is pleased the airport expansion and renovation project has taken off.

"This is the start of something really great for City of Greater Sudbury," David Kilgour, president of the Sudbury Airport Community Development Corp. says.

"It's going to be significant to the people and the businesses of Greater Sudbury. It's going give a quality of air transportation locally, which will benefit both citizens and our visitors. It will further position the airport as a catalyst for economic development for all of Northern Ontario."

The building design was developed by Castellan, Luciw, James and Architects Inc. and is said to reflect the history of the area. The facility will be equipped with state-of-the art security measures and docking facilities for computers.