The Harper government has recently announced it is considering a change to the regulation that cancelled the Island Airport bridge, to permit a tunnel to be built.Comments are invited, to be sent to Tim Meisner, of Transport Canada. Here’s CommunityAIR’s letter:

Mr. Meisner,

Thank you for your recent letter seeking public comment on the Harper Government’s proposal to legalize the currently illegal tunnel to the Island Airport.

You state that “The TPA has developed a strong business case for a pedestrian tunnel”.

Unfortunately, while you may have received one, the TPA has failed to make any business case available to the communities affected by its airport expansion.

Would you be so kind as to forward to us the business case that appears to have so impressed you, in order that we might be fully informed as to the rationale the TPA has put forward? In the absence of such information, it is impossible to provide a full and complete response to the case the TPA has apparently made, and certainly not prior to your March 18 deadline for submissions.

What we do know at this point is that the cost of this scheme is skyrocketing: the tunnel was originally projected to cost as little as $20 million. That estimate went up to $38 million in August 2009, and by last November, to $45 million.  Now we hear estimates of $50 to $60 million.

Given the huge sums of money involved, we do find a “strong business case” for the use of public funds for this purpose quite difficult to imagine. Particularly when transit service in our City is being cut, and a library closed. Surely, the need for these fundamental services has a far higher priority for money from the public purse than a further subsidy to a private business?

We are also assured by the TPA (but certainly not persuaded) that the tunnel is not about airport expansion at all, but is just desirable to “smooth out” the flow of passengers arriving from the ferry. What possible “strong business case” can be made for spending such a huge sum just for some “smoothing”?.

We look forward to hearing from you.