Sarnia's Chris Hadfield Airport is receiving $370,000 in federal funding to help keep the site's runways and taxiways clear of ice and snow.
In a media release Thursday, Minister of Transport Omar Alghabra announced the investment is for the purchase of a sweeper to help ensure continued safe and reliable airport operations for residents.
Sarnia-Lambton MP Marilyn Gladu said it's something the airport needed.
"This investment is important in order to keep the airport in operational state so that we can continue to work on economic development there and on restoring air travel to Sarnia-Lambton," she said. "And this is on top of the $1-million that the government gave to do the economic development study of the opportunities that are available to expand the airport operations here."
In July of 2020, Air Canada stopped all of its service into Sarnia.
Gladu said the safety investment is a key step in making sure that the airport is ready to go when an airline provider is in place.
"I know I had an opportunity to speak with the VP of Porter Airlines when we had the fly-in in Sarnia, and talked about the potential of having Porter do a flight. So, we are working on all opportunities, not just Air Canada, we're working with WestJet and looking at every available way to restore connectivity here to Sarnia-Lambton."
Gladu said she is happy to see the federal government recognize the value of rural communities and the fact that they have airports.
"Air travel is fundamental to bringing people in for jobs, connectivity with the chemical plants that we have here, with the expansions that are going on, as well as for people who want to travel. Our proximity to the U.S. makes it possible for us to put flights into Flint or to Detroit that could connect internationally," she said. "Economic growth is key to population growth and we've been fairly stagnant. I saw in the last census we're at 107,077 people."
Scottsdale Aviation is contracted to the City of Sarnia to run the airport until June of 2027.