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The invisible runway
In late 1998, I was contacted by the Kelowna, BC air traffic controllers about their concerns regarding an unsafe air traffic control tower at their airport. At the time, I was the critic for Transport for the PC party. The Liberals were in power.
It was hard to believe the accusations that their control tower was actually lower than parts of the runway, and that airplanes could not be seen when they landed because of new buildings and parked airplanes. I went to Kelowna to check it out myself.
The controllers were absolutely correct. At the time, there were 80, 000 flights per year landing at this airport, and every one of them disappeared from sight behind buildings and planes while landing. At any time, another plane could be on the invisible part of the runway, and the air traffic controllers would not know.
This safety deficiency had been highlighted a decade before in an official government report that declared the situation as unsafe. Despite this report, nothing had been done about it, and there were no plans to replace the dangerous tower. Now the air traffic controllers were asking me to help.
The air traffic control system in Canada had been privatized in 1996 and was now operated by NAV CANADA. Unfortunately, NAV CANADA was not responding to the urgent calls from the air traffic controllers or from me.
The only tool that I had to work with was “public awareness.”The way I could get public awareness was by asking questions in the House of Commons. Although there are 45 minutes of questions in Question Period every day, “questions” are very hard to come by when you are in the third party.
I finally got the chance to ask a question of the Minister of Transport, which I hoped would get this safety issue onto the front burner.
I prepared my question carefully and then went to Question Period.
I looked over and saw that the Honourable David Collenette, Minister of Transport, was not in his seat. I crossed over to the Liberal House Leader to find out who was answering Transport questions in the absence of the Minister of Transport. I was told that Hon John Manley, the Minister of Industry, would be answering Transport questions that day.
I then went right over to John Manley’s seat. I wanted to give him a “heads up” that the question was coming.
I said, “John, I will be asking you a question about the unsafe air traffic control tower in Kelowna.”
He said, “No, no, no… don’t ask that question… I don’t know anything about air traffic control towers.”
I explained that I needed the question and might not get another chance.
John said, “What will I say?”
I said, “Just say that if there really is a safety issue with the Kelowna air traffic control tower, the Minister of Transport will look into it.”
John agreed, “OK.”
I returned to my seat on the opposition side.
Minutes later, I finally got my chance to ask my blistering question about the Kelowna air traffic control tower. The Honourable John Manley stood up and answered, “If there really is a safety issue with the Kelowna air traffic control tower, the Minister of Transport will look into it.”
He paused a few seconds, and then added, “All I know is that I’m not flying into Kelowna airport any time soon… and not until they get that air traffic control tower fixed!”
From my side of the house, I burst out laughing. I couldn’t believe what he said.
In any case, it started the ball rolling. Some of the media picked it up, and the ten-year-old safety report came to light.
Soon, NAV CANADA announced that they were planning to build a deluxe new air traffic control tower in Kelowna, which they did.
I still laugh when I think about John Manley’s answer. Shortly after that, John Manley became Deputy Prime Minister, and I always thought that he would’ve made a great Prime Minister.
It was hard to believe the accusations that their control tower was actually lower than parts of the runway, and that airplanes could not be seen when they landed because of new buildings and parked airplanes. I went to Kelowna to check it out myself.
The controllers were absolutely correct. At the time, there were 80, 000 flights per year landing at this airport, and every one of them disappeared from sight behind buildings and planes while landing. At any time, another plane could be on the invisible part of the runway, and the air traffic controllers would not know.
This safety deficiency had been highlighted a decade before in an official government report that declared the situation as unsafe. Despite this report, nothing had been done about it, and there were no plans to replace the dangerous tower. Now the air traffic controllers were asking me to help.
The air traffic control system in Canada had been privatized in 1996 and was now operated by NAV CANADA. Unfortunately, NAV CANADA was not responding to the urgent calls from the air traffic controllers or from me.
The only tool that I had to work with was “public awareness.”The way I could get public awareness was by asking questions in the House of Commons. Although there are 45 minutes of questions in Question Period every day, “questions” are very hard to come by when you are in the third party.
I finally got the chance to ask a question of the Minister of Transport, which I hoped would get this safety issue onto the front burner.
I prepared my question carefully and then went to Question Period.
I looked over and saw that the Honourable David Collenette, Minister of Transport, was not in his seat. I crossed over to the Liberal House Leader to find out who was answering Transport questions in the absence of the Minister of Transport. I was told that Hon John Manley, the Minister of Industry, would be answering Transport questions that day.
I then went right over to John Manley’s seat. I wanted to give him a “heads up” that the question was coming.
I said, “John, I will be asking you a question about the unsafe air traffic control tower in Kelowna.”
He said, “No, no, no… don’t ask that question… I don’t know anything about air traffic control towers.”
I explained that I needed the question and might not get another chance.
John said, “What will I say?”
I said, “Just say that if there really is a safety issue with the Kelowna air traffic control tower, the Minister of Transport will look into it.”
John agreed, “OK.”
I returned to my seat on the opposition side.
Minutes later, I finally got my chance to ask my blistering question about the Kelowna air traffic control tower. The Honourable John Manley stood up and answered, “If there really is a safety issue with the Kelowna air traffic control tower, the Minister of Transport will look into it.”
He paused a few seconds, and then added, “All I know is that I’m not flying into Kelowna airport any time soon… and not until they get that air traffic control tower fixed!”
From my side of the house, I burst out laughing. I couldn’t believe what he said.
In any case, it started the ball rolling. Some of the media picked it up, and the ten-year-old safety report came to light.
Soon, NAV CANADA announced that they were planning to build a deluxe new air traffic control tower in Kelowna, which they did.
I still laugh when I think about John Manley’s answer. Shortly after that, John Manley became Deputy Prime Minister, and I always thought that he would’ve made a great Prime Minister.