I’m leavin’ on a jet plane, don’t know when I’ll be back again.
- John Denver, Leaving On A Jet Plane, 1966
If you’re leaving on a jet plane out of Vancouver International Airport starting in May, you’ll be leaving 33% more money behind for YVR’s Airport Improvement Fee.
That’s because an unelected, unaccountable YVR board of directors, led by a $500,000 a year chief executive officer, want to raise $1.8 billion primarily to handle baggage faster for international passengers transiting through YVR to and from Asia, mainly China.
And they want to take that $1.8 billion straight from your pocket, by increasing the Airport Improvement Fee by $5 to $20 for 10 years on every passenger flying out of the province.
I have a reaction of two words that start with the letters B and S – Bellingham and Seattle airports! Take off, eh, YVR!
Thousands of British Columbians already save hundreds to thousands of dollars by flying out of those U.S. airports, fed up with taxes, fees, charges and fuel surcharges.
That costs Vancouver jobs and governments revenue.
And don’t expect a public hearing or consultation on the Airport Improvement Fee – because YVR’s structure is among the most undemocratic you can imagine.
In 1992, it went from federal government control to become a strange not-for-profit that doesn’t answer to either the federal nor provincial government.
Here’s who appoints a director under YVR’s rules: the Vancouver Board of Trade, the Institute of Chartered Accountants of B.C., the Law Society of B.C., the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of B.C., the cities of Richmond and Vancouver, and Metro Vancouver. The Canadian government, which controls air space, gets two directors.
That board then chooses four members from “the community at large.” Any review of the current 14 directors, however, could only conclude that membership is restricted to B.C’s elite.
YVR actually claims it’s a “community-driven organization,” pointing out it holds an annual “public meeting” and stating that, “We welcome your feedback.”
Here’s my feedback: If you want to raise $1.8 billion for better service to travellers passing through Vancouver then charge them the Airport Expansion Fee – not the rest of us who live here!
Join my new Facebook.com protest page – No Way YVR – and send the airport a strong message – that if they ignore us, we can take off elsewhere.
Read more Tieleman at www.TheTyee.ca and http://billtieleman.blogspot.com/ Email: weststar@telus.net
