Organizers of Moosomin Airport welcome new donation
August 6, 2024, 10:23 am
Kevin Weedmark and Ashley Bochek
The organizers of the Moosomin Airport expansion are welcoming a $200,000 donation from Air Andrew of Virden. The committee welcomed the Air Andrew crew to the Moosomin Airport on Monday.
Jeff St. Onge, the president of the Moosomin Flying Club says the donation will help complete the final steps of the airport.
“This is huge. We are right at the final stages of fundraising for the electrical, lighting, and painting lines. I would argue that your hardest fundraising to find is the very first and the very last. We’re right at that stage right now. This is a huge donation that will go a long ways toward putting in the electrical and lighting.”
St. Onge says the airport project has been supported solely with fundraising.
“It is all about fundraising. It was a $10 million runway and we had to fundraise all of it between provincial and local governments, corporations, and private companies and individuals. Everything—literally every dollar—makes a difference.”
RM of Moosomin Reeve Dave Moffatt adds, “The fundraising built the airport and this project.”
St. Onge says it is unreal to see the Air Ambulance use the airport after many years of working on the project. “I never doubted it, but also can’t believe we are here. I am so excited. This is the very first day a jet has ever landed in Moosomin. It is a historical moment and it seems like we’re having them every week now. First Air Ambulance a couple weeks ago and now a jet. It is very exciting.”
Future stages for the airport
St. Onge explains the next steps for the airport. “From here, we need a terminal building. We would want to be putting a hanger in here to do the indoor loading. Then, a fueling system and then a security fence around. Those are the next stages. That turns it from utilitarian-functional into operational. We do have to operate as a business so we are able to do the resurfacing and the repainting.”
Moffatt says he is proud of the area’s involvement in supporting the Moosomin Airport project. “I am the proudest of the people in the area who have come together to be involved in this. That is huge. Right from local people to the provincial government, everybody has had a part in it and made it happen.
“When that first life is saved—to me that is the biggest factor. That is when I will be most proud. That’s what it’s all about.”
Airport benefits all
Kristjan Hebert of the Communty Builders Alliance (CBA) says the airport is a huge benefit to this area for many different reasons.
“I think health care has been the main focus and absolutely—we always used that number ‘would you spend $350 to get your child or family member to Saskatoon if they had a stroke?’ and everybody can relate to that, but I think one of the other nuances that Moosomin, Southeast Saskatchewan, and Southwest Manitoba have, is we’re making it a hot spot for Western Canadians specifically, but Canadian entrepreneurs to have two paved strips on two different angles in this area, and you tie that in with the natural resources that we have with potash, energy, and agriculture, it is something that every business owner is going to look at for their second spot. In today’s world entrepreneurs are trying to find time and there is only a couple ways to do that and that is people and planes.”
Hebert says the airport makes the Moosomin area more accessible to business leaders.
“Nutrien can bring some of their directors and senior managers here more often because they can land their plane here. If they can fly from Saskatoon instead of driving, that changes things. We need Nutrien to keep investing into this area of the province versus other areas in the globe. Secondly, I am in agriculture—I am a big believer that agriculture—specifically Canadian agriculture—can be a global superpower and this area grows a pile of grain. You draw a 250 km circle around Moosomin and it is one of the biggest bread baskets in the world. So, this will allow us to get some of the CEOs of all the different companies we work with to the area to even know where Moosomin is, where right now they call it Western Canadian agriculture.
“We have Dan McCarthy at the airport and I think that is a great example of an entrepreneur that has expanded not only within Canada, but to other countries—he wants to raise his family in Moosomin and the only way you can have that type of success is to be able to get to those other places and not miss too much time with your kids. That is really what airports do.”
Hebert says airports help communities grow.
“Where my eyes were opened to it was when we were expanding our insurance side into the US, every small town has a 4,000 foot paved runway. You get talking to business people and they would all say there really is no such thing as a new business anymore, there is the odd one, but what there is, is an entrepreneur that has one location and wants another. They try to find a location that is good to run it, but they still need to get here once a week or once a month and if you have to come in your truck every time that takes a lot of time away from your family so they won’t do it. Where if they can come in their plane on a round trip it is unbelievable how many locations they can have. Most of these companies own a plane and they’re not trying to show off—everyone knows that it is expensive, but time is expensive. If you’re coming from Saskatoon to Moosomin in a small jet it’s 41 minutes instead of four and a half hours. There was some times that we were doing insurance work in Calgary, I’d leave Virden at 6 am and be home for hockey practice at 3:30 pm, and you can’t do that in a car. You end up saying no to something in your life—is it no to your business or to your spouse and kids and neither one of those is real fun to say no to, and I think this allows this area to say, ‘Come here and you don’t have to say no. We want you here!’ ”
Last bit of fundraising
Hebert says the Moosomin Airport is working on the final fundraising goal.
“We have about $350,000 left to go. That would be to get it to the original plan.
Hebert says the project has gone well and moved swiftly. “I don’t think that we could be happier with how this has gone. Nutrien stepped up, then the government stepped up to match them and that gets us to 50%. The local towns and RMs in general, really bought into the $350 per person idea probably even better than expected, that brought us to 75%. We have only been at the private side of matching towns and RMs with local businesses for that final 25% for three or so months and we are not that far off thanks to large donations and small donations, so I would say we need to be pretty proud of all the local businesses and local families that have stepped up.”
Hebert says he can’t believe the progress that has happened with the airport project. “If you would have told me ten years ago that we would have an airport that was tied for the third longest runway in the province, I would probably have called you a liar.
“For me, I would like to see five major businesses based around the airport. Spray planes are one we can all think of because that is something the area needs, but it would be great to see a charter service out of Moosomin and great to see other businesses. I think the potential when it comes to smaller hangers whether that be ten or more in five years—some locals with planes will build, and some people out of Regina or larger centres might be interested, where leasing a hanger in the city is really expensive and this is a better spot. Talking to the Yorkton folks, you will also realize there are people moving out from Ontario and building hanger homes because it doesn’t matter where they live when they own a plane. I think that would be neat for our area and I think we have a good area for people to look at for something like that.”
