As a regular contributor to the letters section in local newspapers, on matters of community interest and public policy, I have observed a continuing interest with the subject matter referenced by some of the letters. They are re-published here as a public service.

Following is an article first published in 1999 and re-published here to serve as a reference on the issue.

The Editor, Saint John Telegraph Journal

Three competing airports in a province with a shrinking population of approximately 825,000 is the reason New Brunswick has poor air-service and high airfares.

The proposed Onex purchase/merger of Air Canada and Canadian will have no impact on this fact, regardless of which way it goes.

Twenty some years ago, the Hon. Jean Marchand, then Minister of Transport and one of Quebec's infamous three wisemen postulated that Sussex should host the construction of a major airport that would be connected by high-speed rail to Moncton, Saint John and Fredericton.
Parochial attitudes in the three cities quashed that notion in big hurry.

Given the cost of replicating the project today, one could assume it's lost to New Brunswick forever.

How does one explain the stupidity of New Brunswick's Neanderthal reaction to a common-sense air-service solution that might have made a Sussex airport the Maritime airline hub instead of Halifax?

There is not enough critical mass in New Brunswick to support improved air-service. This is a region that whines about highway tolls but continues to kill citizens and visitors alike on single-lane high-speed highways. Could we ever expect it would support the notion of a world-class airport if people had to drive 50 miles to use it?

Is there a pattern here;

• fishermen who refuse to leave the fishery because their parents and grandparents were fishermen;
• fish plant workers who refuse work because they would have to travel an hour and a half to to get to the plant;
• steel workers and coal miners who can't see the sunset;
• shipbuilders who remember the glories of the nineteenth century, even as we head into the twenty first;
• governments that want to dismantle lotteries and other cooperative ventures, etc. etc.

Is there some deep-rooted, head-in-the-sand belief in Atlantic Canada that the world owes us a living or that the world owes us the same level of air-service as a population centre with millions of people?

Wake up folks. Things will never get better unless we can come together as a province and as a region to make things happen.

Sincerely, W.E. (Bill) BelliveauShediac, NB