The Yukon government needs to step up and take over the designation as the official operator of the Schwatka Lake float plane base, city council heard Monday night.

Darryl Laliberté of the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association (COPA) told council the time is right to de-list the city as the operator and list the Yukon government.

Transport Canada has just announced a new initiative where float plane bases inside populated areas will need to be certified, with an official operator designated, he pointed out.

With that designation will come the responsibilities of managing an aerodrome according to the requirements set out be the federal government, Laliberté said.

The city, he said, would become an airport operator, and it would need a separate department with the infrastructure and staff required to manage an aerodrome.

It just wouldn’t be feasible, he suggested.

Laliberté said it only makes sense to have the Yukon government designated as the official operator under the new initiative by Transport Canada because it already operates all the other aerodromes in the territory.

It’s the hope of the local chapter of the owners and pilots association that the city and the Yukon government will get together, discuss the issue and ultimately have the designation as operator transferred to the Yukon, he said.

“We would like a transfer,” Laliberté told members of council.

“We would like a meeting of the minds here.”

The vice-president of the pilots association emphasized the Schwatka Lake float plane base is a valuable economic asset, not just for Whitehorse but for the whole of the territory.

Four commercial operators fly out Schwatka to service the outfitting industry, the tourism industry, the mining industry and so forth, Laliberté noted.

He said the entire territory is impacted by commercial activity that originates on Schwatka Lake, not just Whitehorse.

City staff were directed to provide members of city council with more information about the issue.

Coun. Samson Hartland raised the matter of the Schwatka Lake float plane base. He cited a meeting he’s had with the representatives of COPA and letters sent to the city by COPA, the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce and the National Aviation Transportation Industry.

Hartland said now is the appropriate time to discuss the transfer, as the Yukon government announced this past spring it’s hired a local consulting firm for $187,465 to provide a vision of aviation needs in the Yukon over the next 10 years.

Whitehorse does not have the capacity to manage air traffic nor aviation safety, he said.

The councillor said the Yukon government is the logical choice as the designated operator with an established aviation branch already managing 28 aerodromes across the territory.

In an interview Tuesday, Hartland said he’s not sure how the city got to be designated as the operator. He suspects it was more by default than anything else – the float plane base is in the city, so the city is the operator.

But with the move by federal government to formalize the operator status of float plane bases within populated areas, he said, it’s time to transfer the official designation to the Yukon government.

Mike Gau is the city’s director of development services. He told council there have been no official discussions with the Yukon regarding the transfer, as city administration has not been directed to undertake such discussions.

He said administration would need that direction from council, and until then, the city will continue to manage the aerodrome.

Coun. Dan Boyd told his elected colleagues when he thinks about managing the float plane base, he’s thinking about dock spaces and so forth, not managing an aerodrome.

“I would ask for more information,” Boyd said.

Mayor Dan Curtis echoed Boyd’s thoughts. He said he’d like to hear from the Yukon government to get a better understanding of what their intention is.

In a letter to city council last Friday, COPA president Christoph Altherr said the Schwatka Lake float plane base is part of the territory-wide transportation infrastructure. As such, it may be beyond the city’s mandate, he said.

“Furthermore, earlier this month, Transport Canada unveiled a proposal to certify water aerodromes,” says the letter. “Once these regulations come into place, YG may have to take responsibility of Schwatka Lake Aerodrome.

“All this leads us to the conclusion that it would be in the best interest of all parties involved if the City would hand over the management of Schwatka Lake aerodrome, its facilities and the land on the west shore to YG since they have the resources and experience to deal with aviation.”

The Yukon government could still follow the city’s Schwatka Lake Area Plan adopted in 2015, since it covers the needs of all users at the lake, says the letter from COPA.

COPA has been pushing the city to provide more dock space and parking for the float plane base, though it says the city has been slow to act. The city points out it is taking steps to widen the road and is preparing budget submissions for the construction.