Butt out of airport debate: mayor to Wildrose chief

Mayor Stephen Mandel lashed out Friday at provincial politicians wading into the fight to save Edmonton City Centre Airport, as Wildrose Alliance Leader Danielle Smith signed on to a referendum on keeping the facility open.

City council opted in July 2009 to shutter the downtown airport in phases, with the first of two runways slated to close Tuesday.

But that hasn't derailed a group called Envision Edmonton from a long-shot campaign to stave off the closure and transform the airfield into a transit hub bridging air, bus, car and rail travel.

Envision Edmonton has collected about 45,000 signatures in support of holding a plebiscite on the airport's future during this fall's municipal elections. It needs another 33,000 by Aug. 24.

On Friday, Wildrose Alliance Party Leader Danielle Smith added her name to the petition, joining Liberal MLA Hugh MacDonald and NDP Leader Brian Mason, who have already signed.

"This whole process has been rushed and undemocratic," Smith said in a statement. "The vast majority of Edmontonians that I've talked to have not been convinced that this forced, permanent closure needs to happen."

Mandel scoffed at Smith's talk of democracy, noting that city council voted to close the airport.

"We are the elected officials. And for her to talk about democracy, when she's not an elected official, and sign a petition when she's not even a resident of Edmonton," he began.

"There's a Municipal Government Act, which clearly defines the roles of cities and councillors and the mayor, and she needs to read it."

'Entire northern part of the province'

MacDonald, the MLA for Edmonton-Gold Bar, said city politicians don't have a monopoly on the issue, which affects communities beyond the provincial capital.

"This is about the future economic development not only of our city, but the entire northern part of the province," MacDonald said. "This matter concerns all Edmontonians. I represent some of those Edmontonians in the legislative assembly."

City councillors Ron Hayter and Tony Caterina have also signed Envision Edmonton's petition.

If the plebiscite goes ahead, it will be the third one on the airport's future since 1992. That year, voters narrowly opted to keep the airport running with passenger services. Then in 1995, a referendum supported shunting all scheduled passenger flights to Edmonton International Airport, but not scuppering the downtown facility.

Goodbye, runway 16-34

With regular passenger traffic long gone, City Centre Airport will begin phasing out runway 16-34 on Tuesday.

The airport has protocols for the change, said Traci Bednard, a vice-president at Edmonton Airports.

"Painting large X's on the runway, so that it's clear for pilots ... that what was a runway is no longer operational," Bednard said. "They're also things like making sure that the runway lights are not operational, and also installing different barriers to ensure that pilots couldn't inadvertently access what will now be a non-operational runway."

Bednard said the facility will work closely with its aviation tenants so they still have access to the remaining, active runway.

Advocates say the City Centre Airport, with its private and charter flights, is vital for the business community, as a hub to the north and for medevac flights. About 4,000 medevac flights a year go through there.

Opponents want the 58 hectares of land to benefit the wider public, with a transit-oriented community housing thousands of people, along with commercial and retail space and room for the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology to expand its campus westward.