What the airport survey said was that people in the area were very interested and eager to see flights offered from the Waneta airport to Kelowna and/or Calgary. What it showed was that any airline or charter service would find a ready market here.
Our area bleeds dollars to the Spokane airport when many of those travellers could go through Kelowna that now offers more frequent flights to LAX as well as points east such as Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto and Ottawa.
Sure let’s wait for a study to be completed and then let’s wait some more while local politicians decide what they’ll do with the results.
Will they vote thumbs up or down? Will the vote be on merit or enmity?
In the meantime, former Montrose Mayor Griff Welsh can continue squeezing that nickel until the beaver’s eyes pop or he can take a leap of faith and invest it in the future of the Patterson to Park Siding community.
As to what and how much the Mayor of Trail knew two years ago with regard to Fortis’ decision to move its operations, he’ll have to answer that. Fortis still has not come forward to offer the citizens of Greater Trail a public meeting. Fortis afforded Castlegar a public meeting last month.
If I were the Mayor of Warfield I would be concerned for some of the village’s businesses. I would want to know the impact a loss of Fortis employees would have on my community that borders the current operations centre.
Lastly, there is a need for more frequent communication between local councils and the public.
The newspaper is one way; writing a weekly blog is another. Are there any 21st century bloggers on any local council? It would be another way to reach those who use IPhones or Blackberries.
Wading through internet sites is possible, of course.
More effective, however, would be to issue frequent media releases both to the press and radio as well as to those who sign up to have releases sent directly to their IPhones.
Rose Calderon
Trail