[markbarbera]

The assertion that YHM is a dying airport is simply incorrect. YHM is a profitable airport under YVR's magaement, and continues to be incresasing profitable. Passenger numbers may be down since 2003, but its profitability is up. As was already pointed out, the measurement of success is profitability.

With regards to AEGD, if we were to accept the claim that every household will need to pay $1000 to service the AEGD, then consider this. The added cost will provide an employment area that will provide 24,000 new jobs to the Hamilton workforce in stage one of AEGD. The first phase of AEGD will add $66 million to the property tax base by the time it is built out in 2031.

Even if we also work on coalminecanary's claim that all AEGD will produce is forklift operators, we are talking about 24,000 forklift operators with an average annual salary of $27,000, or an annual increase in the city's workforce payroll by nearly $650,000,000.

A one-time investment in servicing the land will result in 24,000 jobs in the first stage of AEGD development (43,000 when fully developed, plus an additional 20,000 spin-off jobs) and a contribution of $6 million to the city's annual tax base. This is a bad thing how?