Opposition critic Scott Kent says Highways and Public Works Minister Richard Mostyn has misled the aviation industry and the legislature.

And he needs to apologize, Kent insisted in an interview this morning.

He said during question period on the legislature on Thursday, Mostyn said he had shared with the industry the draft legislation for a new Public Airports Act.

The day before, however, the minister received a letter from the Northern Air Transportation Association asking that its name be removed from a government press release indicating the association had been consulted about the new act.

The letter said it had never received any draft legislation to review or comment on, and that conversations with a senior government official were only general in nature.

“This short conversation in no way can be construed as “consultation” and the reference to NATA in the Press Release needs to be removed,” reads Wednesday’s letter to Mostyn from the Glenn Priestly, the executive director of the association.

When pressed by Kent yesterday in question period, Mostyn told the legislature the draft legislation had been shared with members of the air industry.

Kent said today the minister’s response to the legislature came a day after he’d received the letter from the association indicting it never saw any draft legislation.

The reference in Mostyn’s press release of Oct. 4 indicating the air association had been consulted about the new legislation was still up on the government’s website this morning, Kent pointed out.

The opposition critic said Mostyn needs to apologize and must go back to the drawing board with his Public Airports Act.

“It’s quite the mess they have created and they have to hit the reset button,” said Kent.

The minister told the Star early this afternoon he stands by his comments.

What Kent is putting forward is another cooked-up fabrication by the Yukon Party, he said.

“It is getting tiring,” Mostyn said. “Again and again, we keep seeing things that are incorrect that are coming out of the official Opposition, and they should start checking their facts.”

Mostyn said the draft legislation was shared with the Canadian Owners and Pilots Association on Sept. 11 and with the Yukon Aviation Advisory Group made up of Yukon companies, including Air North, on Sept. 13.

He said said he spoke with the executive director from the Northern Air Transportation Association Thursday afternoon, adding all is good.

That the association didn’t feel it was consulted is its view, but what officials heard from the association was incorporated into the draft legislation, he said.

Mostyn reiterated his comments that the Yukon is in dire need of a single piece of legislation to govern airports, something it has been missing for more than 20 years.

Now that the legislation has come forward, the next task will be to expand the consultation process to assist with the creation of the regulations under the legislation, and that is where the rubber is going to hit the road, Mostyn suggested.

Air North president Joe Sparling told the Star this week, the company was aware the government was preparing new legislation but was never well-informed about what it was going to say.

Now that company officials have seen it, there are red flags, he said.

The Yukon Party has been carrying on a frontal assault of the Liberals and their proposed airport legislation.

It has gone so far as to suggest it was a poorly veiled attempt to begin imposing an airport improvement fee.

Mostyn, on the other hand, maintains that the new act is simply meant to give the government a single piece of legislation to govern its airports and aerodromes.

Since the federal government devolved authority over airports to the Yukon in the 1990s, it’s been a hodgepodge of legislation that gives the government its authority, he has pointed out in recent days, including today.

The government press release of Oct. 4 says authority to govern airports currently comes from the Lands Act, the Territorial Lands (Yukon) Act, the Motor Vehicles Act and the Financial Administration Act.

Mostyn has insisted there is absolutely no intent to implement an airport improvement fee or tax.

See minister’s letter.