Liberals’ Air Access Program for Labrador doesn’t provide meaningful help, critics say

The Liberals announced their “Air Access Pilot Program” Thursday, allowing people of Labrador and parts of the Great Northern Peninsula to access a subsidy to help lower the cost of air travel.

“It is really nice to see such a good number out for what is, I believe, an exciting day for all of Labrador,” Cartwright-L’Anse au Clair MHA and Labrador Affairs Minister Lisa Dempster said at the Goose Bay Airport Thursday afternoon. 

Dempster cited a report by the Goose Bay Airport Corporation that showed nationally air travel costs had increased by nine per cent nationally, but 33 per cent out of Goose Bay and up to 47 per cent out of the Wabush Airport. 

The minister said she and Lake Melville MHA Perry Trimper had been working on a program since early September 2024, negotiating with Provincial Airlines and meeting with the Competition Bureau, the federal Department of Transportation, and others. “Although government is usually not into the business of doing partnerships with airlines, we knew that something had to be done,” she said. 

The pilot program will take effect Aug, but it has restrictions. According to the provincial government:  

• Residents of Labrador or in the Labrador-Grenfell Region can apply to get the subsidized tickets through an online form;
• 175 tickets per week will be available at discount rates throughout Labrador; 
• The subsidized tickets will have a “special base fare” plus a 30 per cent discount subsidized by the province;
• Subsidized tickets will be capped at two round trips per person each calendar year;
• Applications are required 28 days prior to the planned departure day. Once an application is approved, a booking code will be provided, which is then needed to book a flight directly with PAL Airlines. Flights need to be booked at least 14 days before the travel day. The 14-day booking period is included in the 28 days needed to process an application.
• The program is anticipated to cost $3.5 million between Aug. 29 and March 31, 2026; 
• Details and the application will be on the Labrador Affairs website beginning Aug. 29;
• Tickets are for personal or leisure travel only;
• The province says medical travel is covered by the Medical Travel Assistance Program; 
• Tickets will need to start from a Labrador airport, including Goose Bay, Wabush and the six north coast airstrips, Blanc Sablon or St. Anthony; 
• Passengers, except north coast residents, need to be going to St. John’s, Gander or Deer Lake;
• For north coast residents, tickets can include travel to and from the Goose Bay Airport;
• The number of seats will be allocated per airport based on population density.

As an example, Dempster said currently a round-trip flight from Goose Bay to St. John’s costs about $1,100. The new base fare will be $898, with another 30 per cent subsized by the province, bringing the total round-trip fare to $628. 

The application process for the subsidy ensures corporations cannot access the program for business travel, Dempster explained, adding the government will monitor and continue to improve the program. “We can’t let perfect be the enemy of the good. We start and we will listen,” she told The Independent following Thursday’s announcement. “I’ve been dealing with medical transportation since Budget 2023 and we’ve made a number of enhancements, and I would say that we’re not finished yet.” 

It has taken time to get to this point, as “nothing in government moves at the pace we would like,” Dempster added, but this is a positive subsidy for Labradorians wanting to travel for personal reasons or leisure. Dempster said the Hope Air and Medical Transportation Assistance programs are still available for residents travelling for medical reasons. 

The intra-provincial tourism travel loop announcement in May drew “ire” and “anger” from Labradorians, according to the Goose Bay Airport CEO at the time. 

When asked if this announcement just before an election will repair the broken trust some Labradorians have in the Liberal Party, Dempster said there will always be people not in your camp that will never join, regardless of how you try. However, she said the majority of people across Labrador and the Great Northern Peninsula will really appreciate the announcement. 

As it is a pilot program, people can provide their feedback by emailing the Department of Labrador Affairs as the program operates, she said. 

Subsidy not enough for low-income earners, says advocate 

Florence Milley was awaiting the announcement, but said it’s disappointing to see the actual program details. The Sheshatshiu resident and Innu advocate said there are not enough tickets each week for Labradorians, and it seems to be giving just a little when Labradorians need a lot. “We’re being fed scraps, right? That’s what it feels like,” she said. 

Milley said the program will benefit people like her that have steady income and can afford the tickets to and from the island, but won’t be enough to help low- and fixed-income residents. “It would have been beneficial if, let’s say, they had a subsidy for income support or somebody who’s on a fixed income and put the rate a little bit lower,” Milley said. “Who are they targeting?”

Milley also said the subsidy should have been applicable for anywhere PAL Airlines flies, such as Montreal and Halifax, not just to facilitate travel to Newfoundland. “Is this to boost tourism, to get to Newfoundland? That’s what it sounds like to me. They’re trying to boost the numbers to get to Newfoundland, but they’re not really focusing on [Labradorians],” she said. “I just really believe that this government needs to really think about what’s in the best interest of Labradorians too. We matter too.”

Nunatsiavut’s Ordinary Member for Lake Melville said the subsidy is a start, but it is important to note it doesn’t include taxes. Wally Andersen showed how he bought a ticket pre-subsidy for $1,034, however with taxes it was $1,467. Dempster told The Independent the new base rate and fare estimates don’t include air transport taxes. 

Torngat MHA says grand announcement not so grand

North coast residents will be able to use the subsidy to travel to and from Happy Valley-Goose Bay. However, Torngat Mountains MHA Lela Evans said the announcement was pumped up and expected to be grand, but instead fell short of meaningfully helping Labradorians, especially residents on the coast. “I’m pretty disappointed with this,” she said. “I’m struggling to be positive here.”

Evans said she was hoping to see a discounted rate for all Labradorians without yearly limits and the discount applied automatically upon booking for any travel. The 28-day notice period will be challenging for people trying to travel for funerals or to be with loved ones, since life events often happen without notice. 

With only 175 tickets per week and being allocated based on population density, Evans worries there will not be enough for north coast residents who can only travel by air and are limited to their weekly ferry service in the summer and fall. “They’re basically creating more barriers to travel, to be able to access that discount, and I’m afraid that the people who need it the most are the ones who’s going to suffer the most,” Evans said. 

Evans said the provincial government should have done something similar to the Quebec air travel subsidy to northern regions, where fares are subsidized 50-85 per cent, with no limits for northern residents. Quebec also has a program through which Inuit in Nunavik can access $500 round-trip fares via Air Inuit, to a maximum of three round-trip flights per year.

Quebec’s air access program was something the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador looked at, however the provinces have vastly different population bases and public purses, Dempster said. Newfoundland and Labrador has a population of around 540,000 people, while Quebec has a population of 9 million.

“We looked at it. We were aware of it. Sometimes it was raised in the House of Assembly. And, you know, ‘Maybe this is something we can do.’ But, it was, as somebody who is from the coast of Labrador, it was very real for me, the hardship in terms of what I was hearing, even from the people in my constituency. So we want people to know they were heard, and this is how we’ve ended up here today.”

Evans said the announcement is a ploy by the Liberals trying to gain support ahead of the provincial election. She said Labradorians need more assistance, and that the province needs to investigate why there was a 33-47 per cent increase in airfare costs. It also needs to regulate airfare prices as there is a monopoly in the region. “We don’t have road connections, so we’re totally dependent or we’re more vulnerable to unreasonable price increases, right?” Evans said. “In northern Labrador, if we’re not provided with the same level of access to travel, then the government should step in.”

Prohibitive air travel costs and the shorter sea ice season due to climate change in Labrador’s north have created extra barriers for Innu and Inuit who need to travel, impacting people’s mental health in part due to increasing isolation and diminishing family bonds between communities, Evans added. “The impact to our overall wellness is really affected by the high burden of the travel costs,” she said. “They have squeezed every ounce of hope that they would put some improvements in, some real improvements that would make a difference. I mean, I’m just totally discouraged.”

Shazia Razi, the provincial NDP’s candidate in Labrador West, says the Liberals are claiming an NDP proposal as their own, and turning it into an “election gimmick.” The former Wabush town councillor is running for the seat previously held by MHA Jordan Brown, who introduced a private member’s motion in May calling for improved air access in Labrador. 

Dempster said when Brown put the motion forward, work was already underway on the program, and the Liberals were pleased to support it in the House of Assembly. “I had a great chat with Jordan today,” she said. “He did some really good work, and he […] raised a lot of really important issues to the area, and I appreciated the relationship that I had with him.” 

Razi said this is one example where the NDP has been pushing for change and now that the election is looming, the Liberals are announcing pilot programs similar to NDP proposals. “This is what the NDP has been pushing for, for Labrador West. And I’m glad to see that this got done,” Razi said.

Razi said the Liberals are trying to make positive announcements to distract people from the agency nurse scandal, among other negative press they’ve had in recent months. She said she would like to see adequate oversight on the program to ensure it’s running how it is supposed to.

“I think this is just damage control,” Razi said. “Something that I will be keeping a keen eye on, and I’ll be pushing for, is making sure that our taxpayer monies are being accounted for, [and] that [the] pilot program benefits [residents] the way it is supposed to.”

Town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay, Goose Bay Airport happy with announcement

The Goose Bay Airport Corporation said the program took time given the competing priorities provincial governments face with wildfires, homelessness, healthcare and more, but they are pleased to see today’s announcement. 

“It was a phenomenal announcement. We were kicking tires for a long time, you know, after we heard about the interprovincial announcement on the island,” said Goose Bay Airport Corporation Chair Dean Clarke. “We went to the province and we said, ‘You know, we understand why you had to do something on the island. But you left out Labrador.’ So we went after them. The minister listened. The premier listened.”

Clarke said the program is a win for the region and should bring more traffic in and out of Labrador. He said there are many stories of residents wanting to travel for family, leisure or other reasons, and the program will help support them. “Which is what the Goose Bay Airport Corporation is all about — providing an opportunity for families to be able to travel with their children and their own families in an equitable way to the island and maybe enjoy some life on the island, instead of us taking all of our money and pushing it out through other regions of Canada,” he said. 

Clarke said the Goose Bay Airport Corporation will be encouraging everyone to use the new subsidy program to show that there is a need and a want for the program throughout Labrador; he’s hopeful the provincial government will extend it into the future. 

Happy Valley-Goose Bay Town Councillor Jackie Compton-Hobbs said today’s announcement is wonderful news and will benefit a lot of people. Compton-Hobbs said the town and chamber of commerce will work together with the airport corporation to monitor the program during the pilot months. “I hope it’s a really good pilot project and we can just continue it on. It’s great news for the community,” she said. 

Update: The story was updated to reflect clarification from the provincial government around conflicting time frames required for booking travel. The Independent confirmed on Sept. 5 that the program requires eligible residents to apply for the subsidy 28 days prior to a planned departure day, and that once an application is approved a booking code will be provided which is required to book a flight directly with PAL Airlines. The story has been updated to reflect this information.