Madam Speaker, on April 29, 2009, Aérocentre YHU Longueuil announced a $20 million investment over three years to develop a new airport terminal at the Saint-Hubert airport, which is called the Aéroport Montréal Saint-Hubert-Longueuil, even though it is located in Saint-Hubert.
All of Longueuil was in attendance for announcement. There was a big outdoor party to finally celebrate the fact that the work would be going ahead. About 100 people came out on a Wednesday morning. That only goes to show how long awaited this news had been.
Aérocentre YHU Longueuil is a consortium made up of Dev-YHU Longueuil and DASH-L—a not-for-profit organization whose acronym stands for Développement de l'Aéroport Saint-Hubert-Longueuil—and the City of Longueuil.
In 2007, DASH-L applied to the federal government for a grant to renovate and lengthen the Saint-Hubert runway in order to accommodate larger aircraft, which would enhance airport activity, contribute to economic development and help complete the project to develop a new airport terminal.
I would even call the South Shore region the aviation region. In addition to the airport, there is the Canadian Space Agency, the Institute of Aeronautics and Aérovision, a very dynamic organization in Saint-Hubert that promotes aviation and aerospace trades, chaired by Lucien Poirier. Some of the major aerospace companies are also located there, such as Pratt & Whitney and Héroux DevTech, along with a number of subcontractors around the airport. It is the fifth busiest airport in Canada.
Last Saturday, I attended the day-long celebrations organized by Aerovision to mark 100 years of flying. We had a great day, with hundreds of young people and adults taking part. In the evening, the guest speaker was Charles Lindbergh's grandson, Erik Lindbergh. Many of those in attendance, including, to my surprise, Erik Lindbergh himself, have asked me to continue promoting the development of the airport in Saint-Hubert here in this chamber. I would like to pass this message on to the minister through you, Madam Speaker. Even Charles Lindbergh's grandson asked to do everything in my power in this Parliament to help the Saint-Hubert airport.
The project description and the grant application were submitted two years ago and there has been ample time, might I say, to review them.
Just recently, DASH-L submitted an application in the prescribed form to reflect changes in needs and demands. It is imperative that Saint-Hubert get a new airport.
The government, through the Department of Industry and many other responsible departments, is making considerable investments in Canada's aerospace industry in particular. But the fact is, as we know, that the aerospace industry is to Quebec what the automotive industry is to Ontario. Given the astronomical amounts of money this government is investing in the automotive industry these days, there is an expectation that it will provide assistance to the Saint-Hubert airport.
The minister's response in this House was that he was prepared to look into it. Might I remind the minister of the campaign promise made by his party last fall.
All the ingredients are there. What is the minister waiting for to make his decision known?