What’s all the fuss about? Even if Porter Airlines fails, the island airport will remain for one key reason that seems to be always overlooked by island airport antagonists. The island airport is an integral part of Transport Canada’s overall federal air service strategy. That the island airport be commercially self-sufficient is actually incidental to what is viewed as a federal transport prerogative … that the island airport is a critical and necessary adjunct to Pearson airport operations for a wide range of strategic reasons, not the least of which is that it is a critical “release valve” for “stress” situations that may occur at Pearson in “worst case” scenarios. The policy’s very existence is evidenced by the dogged determination of Transport Canada to make the island airport a permanent structure, pouring millions into infrastructure and thwarting local political attempts to change it.

Clearly, in my opinion, it’s a misguided federal policy, but there it is. And it’s been there for years. I discovered it myself when I aggressively agitated years back in Ottawa with senior transport authorities including the Transport Minister himself at the time (Collenette) about the inappropriateness (imho) of the island airport.

Of course there are unscrupulous opportunists who see a buck to be made in this situation, and they deliberately blur the critical thinking that sees the terrible folly of it all. So even if Porter fails, there’ll be others that will follow just as there have been others before (City Express) because this over-riding federal transport policy encourages it. Reversing a deeply entrenched policy of this kind requires a major political shift … a wholly different mind-set emanating from the highest levels in government. It won’t come from the Conservative Party clearly, and it’s highly doubtful it’ll come from the Liberal party either. And hoping that Porter fails isn’t going to achieve anything.

David Wilson