Watch above: Saskatchewan’s aviation community believes opportunity is being lost in the province’s north because of lack of infrastructure.
SASKATOON – Without air transportation, Saskatchewan would be a very different province.
“We wouldn’t have developed the north the way we have … the uranium mines, the gold mines, and the resources that are there,” said Janet Keim, president of the Saskatchewan Aviation Council.
According to some of the province’s largest airlines, however, infrastructure in northern Saskatchewan is lacking.
“We would like to have increased weather support, reporting, so that before we look at doing a flight into a certain location, we’d like to be able to know what the weather is like,” said Transwest’s Chief Operating Officer Garrett Lawless.
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Lawless said runways also need to be upgraded.
“The better the runway is, the larger, the more efficient of an aircraft that we can send into that location,” he explained.
The council said larger planes would mean lower costs for northern residents.
“That litre of milk won’t cost as much if we can take it in in a big airplane with lots of stuff,” Keim explained.
The issues were raised during a panel discussion at the Wings of Saskatchewan Conference and Trade Show Thursday.
Sue Haffey, a nurse from Wollaston Lake, addressed some of the barriers to medical care northern communities face.
She said flight delays and bad weather can put residents in harm’s way.
“Some of the nurses working in the clinics are tasked with taking care of a critically ill patient for a day or two, sometimes without the support and resources that we would have in the south,” Haffey explained.
The province has invested about $50,000 to bring water and sewer services to the Wollaston Lake airport.
But the aviation council said more upgrades are needed across the board, and this week’s panel discussion has set the stage for a lobbying campaign to achieve that.
There are currently 17 airports in northern Saskatchewan.
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