Letter to Michael Ignatieff
(Editor's note: This is an open letter written to Michael Ignatieff, the leader of the opposition.)
Michael,
Michael,
Toronto has been continuously short changed by the Harper Government.
This issue, which is also close to the heart of the NDP, is one sore point for the Mayor of Toronto, and the people who twice elected him--partly on the strength of his Vision to have Toronto's waterfront be a national show case.
There is a sniff of corruption in the way the Toronto Port Authority gets millions upon millions of dollars in support for a small airport on the Island--while competitive airlines, and other private businesses get nothing.,
To add insult to injury, the TPA and their lobbyist fellows--Bombardier and Pratt Whitney, involved in manufacturing the Porter planes,-- are now saying they will get another $ 37 million in stimulus money from the Feds to build a tunnel across from the mainland to Porter--with a moving walkway. his to replace the Ferry ride of 90 seconds. By the way TPA also wants to Feds to buy them another back up ferry--and rumour has to also buy them some of the 6 new planes on order. The noise and turbulence from the airport and is disgraceful to Toronto. It is a knife in the heart of the Toronto Waterfront development. Chicago saw that and got rid of their downtown airport , and did a number of other major cities in the world. The population of Toronto is roughly equivalent to the combined populations of B.C., Alberta dn Saskatchewan--and the seats from this area traditionally favour Liberals.
Nothing wrong with a successful airline these days when most are going bankrupt. Porter is not going bankrupt because they are obscenely funded by the Feds, are getting huge fee breaks from TPA, which is adding new infrastructure every day, and likely because the Feds are backing private investors money, encouraging them to get into the game with minimal or no risk. Why not.
If someone wants to lead the country, do they not have to show all voters they have a sense of fair play. Instead of giving another $ 37 million to TPA/Porter monopoly why not distribute it to the thousands of small enterprises in the country--a number of which will grow to be large employers. Most of the jobs in this country come from small business anyhow. Why not support them, lots of voters, and refuse to continue to fill the overflowing trough of the TPA and Porter.
I don't know if these messages are received and read by you. Please drop me a one line note from your computer confirming receipt.
Thank you and best wishes in the fall of this year, and next,
Joel M. Rochon
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