Prime Minister Stephen Harper was in Churchill Aug. 23, where he kicked off his Northern tour with the announcement of $13.4 million for safety projects at the Churchill Airport.

The money is available through the Airports Capital Assistance Program, which is run by Transport Canada, who also own and operate the Churchill Airport. The funding will go towards pavement improvements for airside surfaces including the taxiway and apron area, rehabilitation and upgrades to the runways, and reconstruction of the airport terminal building entrance road.

“Our government is undertaking a major upgrade of the Churchill Airport,” Harper said. “As a key regional transportation hub, it is critical that people and goods move in and out of Churchill Airport as safely and efficiently as possible. The upgrades to the taxiways, ramps, and runways … will improve the safety and efficiency of the airport, and will create local jobs to help counter the global recession.”

“This is my fifth consecutive summer tour of our Northern region since becoming Prime Minister,” Harper said. Harper was slated to leave Churchill on the morning of Aug. 24, but poor weather conditions forced him to remain in Churchill longer than expected, skipping a planned visit to Cambridge Bay in Nunavut. His tour continued on to Nunavut the next day, with later stops in the Northwest Territories and Yukon.

Arctic sovereignty and protecting Canada’s land claims in the North is at the forefront of the Prime Minister’s trip, and Harper noted that these issues are becoming increasingly important. “The global demand for Arctic resources is growing,” he said. “The resource development itself must be balanced with rigorous protection of the pristine Northern environment.”

“Our government has made the North a much higher priority than it has been for many, many years,” said Harper. “Living in the North is not always easy. In return for its breathtaking beauty and extraordinary opportunity, it exacts a toll – cold, darkness, and isolation. Many people who live here today have the same hardy adventurous spirit that defined southern Canadian pioneers in centuries past.”

Harper played up the theme of today’s Northerners as equivalent to early southern settlers, also saying: “Just as Canada’s government helped yesterday’s pioneers develop the south – with railroads, highways, ports, and other economic infrastructure – and then helped local communities deliver the schools, hospitals, and cultural and recreational facilities that are vital to our quality of life, our government is doing the same today for Northerners.”

Other dignitaries on hand included Transport Minister Chuck Strahl, who oversees ACAP, Minister of Public Safety Vic Toews, who is Harper’s chief minister responsible for Manitoba, Minister of State for Democratic Reform Steven Fletcher, Premier Greg Selinger, and Churchill Mayor Michael Spence. In addition to the pavement improvements, a runway gravel supply will be acquired and kept on hand at the airport to be used when necessary over the next 10 years. Work began in preparation for these projects last fall, and it is expected that they will be completed by fall 2011.

This announcement pushes the total amount announced for Northern Manitoba airports in 2010 well past the $20-million mark, as Toews had just been in Thompson on Aug. 11 on Strahl’s behalf, announcing $8.7 million for runway improvements at Thompson Airport. That money, also distributed through ACAP, is being used primarily for runway rehabilitation, including drainage, lighting, and pavement, according to Thompson Regional Airport Authority (TRAA) chief executive officer Curtis Ross.

Ross also said that the funding the TRAA is receiving will allow them to concentrate their fundraising efforts on obtaining money for a new terminal, with an estimated construction start date of 2012.

Since ACAP was first introduced, the program has given $548 million to projects at 170 Canadian airports. The ACAP, which between 2005 and 2010 allocated an average of $38 million per year to Canadian airports, was renewed in March 2010 by the federal government. However, this renewal quietly included the caveat that what ACAP termed “fourth priority” projects would no longer be funded.

Fourth priority projects included “asset protection and refurbishing, and operating cost reduction related to air terminal building or groundside access” – in short, anything related to the physical air terminals. This is in contrast to first priority projects, which ACAP says includes “safety-related airside projects, such as rehabilitation of runways, taxiways, aprons, lighting and other utilities, visual aids and sand storage sheds … related site preparation and environmental costs, aircraft firefighting vehicles and ancillary equipment and equipment shelters that are necessary to maintain the level of protection required by regulation.” Second priority projects include “heavy safety-related airside mobile equipment, such as runway snow blowers, runway snow plows, runway sweepers, spreaders and decelerometers (winter friction testing devices), and heavy airside mobile equipment access.” Third priority projects include “safety-related heavy air terminal building and groundside projects, such as sprinkler systems, asbestos removal and barrier-free access.”

To be eligible for funding under the ACAP, airports must meet Transport Canada requirements for certification, must receive year-round passenger service on a regular basis, and must not be owned by the federal government. Twenty-one different airports received funding in the 2009-10 year, none of which were in Manitoba – obviously not the case in the current year, as Thompson and Churchill join the announcement of over $450,000 in funding for new runway equipment at the Flin Flon Airport in receiving money from the ACAP.