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Originally Posted by J_Murphy
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Sorry, I can't let this slide. I see this stuff for Deer Lake and I just can't let it go.
In the late 1980's, Stephenville was attempting to build a new terminal building to deal with rising passenger traffic (180,000 annually by 1989). Brian Tobin, our former MHA, attempted to run in Humber Valley, and began promoting the idea of two west coast airports. This was a dumb idea, but I digress. The terminal which Stephenville had lobbied for years to get was constructed in Deer Lake in order to give that facility a selling point.
Deer Lake Regional Airport has been on the receiving end of seemingly endless federal and provincial government investment since its privatization. When other airports have submitted requests for similar funding they have been shot down continuously. Beginning in 2007, Stephenville (YJT) began the process of trying to secure funding for the construction of new fuel storage tanks. Since a major portion of business is refuelling and servicing international flights, this would have been a major boost to business. However, provincial and federal government continually shot down requests, citing that they were not in the airport business. Shortly thereafter, government announced it was funding a significant portion of the expansion projects in Deer Lake ($9 million). Stephenville had requested $750,000.
After numerous tries, the provincial ministers responsible finally agreed to a meeting with town council, at which time they reiterated that they were not in the airport business. The world's busiest MHA, Joan Burke, said that a comprehensive business plan was needed before any requests were to be considered. YJT had a business plan prepared over the course of 12 months, as well as an intensive audit, submitted it to Burke, and no response was ever received. This past summer, the YJT terminal building received a coat of paint.
And that is a quick summary of how the NL government threw millions of dollars into trying to duplicate a service that was already working.
Adding to the conspiracy: Deer Lake was allowed to receive international flights without having any border service guards at the airport. They were permitted to land widebody, international flights on a runway that was below the acceptable standards for the aircraft in question, without fire rescue or emergency resources on site. They lucked into having Sean Durfy, a Deer Lake resident, become CEO of WestJet, 1 week before that company was set to sign off on an agreement to service YJT.