COPA President and CEO Bernard Gervais has called on Yukon Highways and Public Works Minister Richard Mostyn to hold meaningful consultations with industry stakeholders and the community on Bill 6, the Private Airports Act, a bill that gives the government broad, sweeping powers to create new regulations and impose fees on airport users and the traveling public:

“Aviation is a way of life in Canada’s north and many communities depend on their airports to provide vital links to commerce and public services,” said Gervais. “For the government to ram through this Bill, giving themselves carte blanche on raising fees without meaningful consultation is a disrespectful to the people who depend on the territory’s airport infrastructure each and every day. The Minister must withdraw this legislation until a robust consultation process can be undertaken and the concerns of Yukon’s aviation industry addressed. We will continue to support our local chapter, COPA Flight 106 (Yukon), with all the resources necessary to ensure that the concerns of the general aviation community are heard and respected by this Minister and his government.”

COPA’s call is the latest in a series of public statements by northern aviation stakeholders who were caught with little time to consider the proposals and respond to the government in a substantive way.