Ontario says it will spend more than $2.4 million for the Jack Garland Airport to repair and extend its cross-wind runway and approach light system.
Vic Fedeli, MPP for Nipissing held a news conference this morning to confirm the project.
"Our government is committed to supporting Northern communities, making them attractive places to both live and work," said Fedeli. "This project provides the critical infrastructure needed to retain and attract new business to North Bay, sending a signal to the world that northern Ontario is open for business.
"This funding will benefit the existing local aviation and aerospace industries while paving the way for future investment and job growth."
Jack Garland Airport has the longest runway in northern Ontario and has regular service to and from Toronto and other northern Ontario centres.
Fedeli believes the upgrade will put the city in a really good position to chase an aerospace company.
“We are a key player in the aerospace game so without that piece, it would be pretty hard to chase another aerospace company,” said Fedeli.
“This is really a key component to make sure we have a long future ahead of us. The runway is now taken care of for quite some time, the crosswind runway will be done, the infrastructure is all in place."
Fedeli noted airport funding like this normally comes from the federal government.
"I don’t want to be political, I did not intend to be today but I am very disappointed that the federal government turned this down," he told reporters.
"Airports are under the purview of the federal government and it should have been paid for by them. They chose not to support economic development in North Bay, that was their choice. Regardless of what they are going to do we were always going to be fighting for a crosswind runway."
Jack Santerre, the Airport Manager, says the board has been working for five years to get this funding in place.
He says the local airport supports about 400 jobs and injects $57 million into the local economy annually. He calls the airport a catalyst for economic growth.
“It supports our ability to provide reliability for any service provider. We are continuing to talk on an ongoing basis to service providers to increase service. We are working hard on an Ottawa potential so there are all kinds of things happening.
Santerre noted with passenger traffic up by five per cent from last year, this funding will also help them potentially attract another airline into the North Bay facility as well.
