City to feds: ‘Get on with it’
Council wants rules published for Victoria Harbour Airport
Victoria is once again calling on the federal government to publish regulations for Victoria Harbour Airport, which has been running under interim regulations for years.
City councillors this week passed two motions: one calling on Mayor Lisa Helps to write the Ministry of Transport, Pacific division, seeking a copy of the airport’s Noise Exposure Forecast.
The second would have Helps write Transport Minister Marc Garneau requesting clarification on the anticipated date of publication of the new water aerodrome regulations.
Coun. Ben Isitt, who proposed the actions, said the airport has been operating under draft regulations for almost two decades.
“That provides a lot of uncertainty for residents, for operators, for passengers and for the municipality,” Isitt said.
He said the city has been exchanging correspondence with various ministers and their staffs over the issues for years and “have been getting the runaround.”
“When I first got to council there was a letter from Linda Raitt, who was the minister at the time, who said: ‘We’ll get it to you by April 2012.’ One resident has described the response as always: We’ll get it next year,” Isitt said.
“The overall message [from council] is get on with it, already.”
The resolutions were in response to a letter from Garneau, replying to Helps, who said Transport Canada is reviewing the draft regulations “and is taking steps to incorporate them into the regulatory framework.”
“I would like to take this opportunity to reaffirm there will be a 30-day comment period following prepublication,” he says.
But Garneau doesn’t say when the regulations are coming.
Isitt said the federal government runs the airport “so we’re just trying to follow all the rules and tell our community how this airport should be operated [rather than] relying on these draft or interim regulations.”
Isitt said he would like to know what the regulations will say in terms of issues such as runway locations on the harbour surface.
“Because there’s issues around conflicts with other harbour users, such as ferries or people in kayaks or commercial transport. So it would be good to know where the runways should be located.”
The city frequently hears concerns from James Bay and Victoria West residents about the routes planes take for takeoff and landing, he said.