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Posted Apr 8, 2008, 3:12 PM
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Join Date: Jun 2006
Location: Grand Bay-Westfield :: NB
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What's driving Metro business flyers to Halifax?
Survey shows lack of after-hours customs staff costing Moncton airport flights, business opportunities
By MARC HUDON
Times & Transcript Staff
Published Tuesday April 8th, 2008
Appeared on page A1
OTTAWA - A survey shows that business travellers from the Moncton area are driving to Nova Scotia to catch flights to key destinations on the Eastern Seaboard because Metro's airport can't attract enough air traffic, says the CEO of the Greater Moncton Chamber of Commerce.
Valerie Roy said the cost to airlines of hiring after-hours customs staff to process international travellers at the Greater Moncton International Airport is keeping air traffic from the Hub City to the United States to a minimum.
"It's on paper," she said, adding complete results of the survey will be released later this spring. "We see how much people are driving to Halifax because they want to go to Boston or somewhere else because Newark might not be the best place to connect for where they want to go."
The flight from Moncton to Newark, N.J., -- only minutes from downtown New York City -- is currently the only daily commercial flight departing from Moncton to the U.S.
The results of the survey come on the heels of an announcement Friday by Moncton airport CEO Rob Robichaud, who said the opportunity to secure a second daily flight to Newark, N.J., was nixed recently by Continental Airlines because it costs too much to hire customs staff to process international passengers.
He said the Moncton airport charges Continental Airlines $200,000 a year to hire after-hours customs staff, while passenger-processing services in Halifax are paid for by the federal government.
Roy said the added fees stymie business opportunities by making it more difficult for the airport to attract U.S.-based airlines, flying to different destinations.
"We deserve to have the same kinds of privileges the Halifax region has," she said. "There is no reason that we can't have it with the amount of (passenger) volume and activity we have here."
The Canada Border Services Agency staffs the Moncton International airport weekdays between 9 a.m. and 5 p.m. while Halifax receives dedicated, 24-hour-a-day customs services.
John Thompson, CEO of Enterprise Greater Moncton, said 80 per cent of business in the Moncton area is done with the United States.
The city boasts several corporate multinational employers, including petroleum giant Exxon Mobil.
He said it doesn't make sense that New Brunswick business travellers or U.S. entrepreneurs interested in investing in the region must fly to Montreal or Toronto before heading to their destination of choice.
"When business people have to make three legs of a flight, sometimes they're reluctant to travel," he said. "They find it very, very difficult to get into our region and sometimes that dissuades them from making investments."
Roy said her group has been actively pursuing the customs staffing issue with the federal government.
The issue was expected to be resolved, pending the release of a report by the Canada Border Services Agency about customs staffing requirements at points of entry across Canada. The report, which was expected before the end of 2007, has yet to be released.
"We have received very unsatisfactory responses to our letters from Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day's office and we're feeling frustrated because we need these services at the Moncton airport," she said.
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Restaurant brings a little piece of Paris to Metro
French-style fine dining restaurant Petit Cavalier set to open in Moncton
Roger LeBlanc and Irene Leger are in the process of opening a French restaurant at 52 Weldon Street.
By Eric Lewis
Times & Transcript Staff
Published Tuesday April 8th, 2008
Appeared on page C2
A new restaurant opening in Moncton soon aims to bring a little bit of Paris culture and cuisine to Metro Moncton.
Chef Roger Paul LeBlanc, originally from Moncton, and his long-time girlfriend Irene Leger, from Cap-Pelé, spent the last dozen years living in Vancouver where LeBlanc was the executive chef at the award-winning Le Gavroche restaurant.
Tired of the Vancouver lifestyle, the couple returned home, and are planning the opening of a traditional French restaurant. LeBlanc and Leger hope to open the doors in mid-May, but they are currently wrapping up some paperwork before work begins on building the kitchen onto the back of the couple's home at 52 Weldon Street.
The large home is 107 years old, and according to records the couple has, it was actually once owned by a Mr. J.B. Sangster, proprietor of the Railway Depot Restaurant many years ago. So there's a history of food in the Victorian-style home.
There is plenty of work to do in the home before it is ready, so they admit aiming for mid-May might be wishful thinking, but nonetheless, work continues.
LeBlanc and Leger live in the second and third floors and plan to open a restaurant to seat 50 on the first floor.
Items such as steak tartare, various soufflés, foie gras (duck or goose liver), canapes, rack of lamb and potato-wrapped fish are some of the items LeBlanc rattles off when asked about what will appear on the menu of the restaurant. He says the menu will change with the seasons, likely two or three times a year.
"The cooking I do is traditional French, everything from scratch," he says.
As much as possible, the food served will come from local, sustainable sources, he says.
LeBlanc is toying with the idea of featuring a "carte blanche" option on the menu, where you can say you want a three- or five-course meal and the chef gets to pick what you'll eat.
"We'll find out if you're allergic to anything or if there's anything you really don't like," LeBlanc says, but beyond that, it's up to the chef to decide what you'll eat that night.
"We did it in Vancouver and it did well, someone would walk in and say, 'I want a three-course meal, let the chef decide,'" he continues.
LeBlanc has no formal training as a chef, but started working in a restaurant 28 years ago and began to build his knowledge the old fashioned way -- by watching the pros. He's worked under various chefs throughout his career and he hopes to pass on his knowledge to students of his own. He says he would like to offer his expertise to students in the culinary program at the New Brunswick Community College in Moncton.
Meanwhile, Leger will run the business end of Petit Cavalier (that's Little Knight for you English folk).
The couple landed back in Moncton in October -- "just in time for the snow," LeBlanc notes with a hint of disdain in his voice. They have big plans for the fine dining restaurant, including table-side service.
Wait staff will mix salads on the fly as you watch, with all the ingredients laid out on a trolley they will push about the dining area. They will also be trained to flambé a crêpe suzette before your eyes. The pastry is cooked over open fire in full view of the restaurant guests.
All these ingredients make it sound as though Petit Cavalier will be a tasty spot to check out, if a bit pricey, but LeBlanc says his prices will be competitive with other restaurants in Metro.
"The most expensive thing with running a restaurant is paying rent and paying your chef," he explains. "We own the house and I'm the chef!"
Leger says the restaurant will have an intimate, romantic feel.
"If you have a special occasion, this is the place to come," she says.
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enjoy
Im interested as well...It would be cool if they started doing something this summer.
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