Mr/Ms Smith:

Air Canada can't afford to fly empty seats; if Porter succeeds the competition will force them to cut back on flights out of Pearson, thus sparing Malton.

If we wanted to achieve the maximum environmental effect, we would of course build a high speed rail link from Windsor to Ottawa and Quebec, forbid airlines to offer flights to those destinations, use Toronto City Centre Airport for those flights to destinations not served by high speed rail (Thunder Bay, Timmins, possibly New York) and forbid all short-range flights out of Pearson. That would provide the est environmental benefit and the greatest environmental fairness. However, we have a neo-liberal society, and politicians insist that airports, even essential medical resources such as City Centre Airport, must make money. So we must rely on a competitive economy to create an equitable situation for us.

John Spragge