The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce has joined with their counterparts in Kitchener and London urging the federal government to conduct an open and transparent study to show a business need for an airport in Pickering.

In a letter sent to Transportation Minister Lawrence Cannon last week, the chambers stated a needs assessment study conducted by the Transport Ministry has to be "open and transparent" and instead of spending over $1 billion to build a new airport in Pickering, the money should be used to boost existing secondary airports' operations in Hamilton and southwestern Ontario.

"It's a closed process," said Tyler McLeod, president of the Hamilton Chamber of Commerce. "It's like having the fox in the henhouse."

The Greater Toronto Airport Authority (GTAA) has been given first right of refusal by Transport Canada on the contract to build and operate an airport in Pickering.

The agreement is subjected to a needs assessment study by Transport Canada.

So "the body that may benefit most financially by building and operating the airport has been contracted to determine if it is needed with little or no input by the public," stated the chamber letter, sent last week to the minister. No response has been received, said Mr. McLeod.

"Decisions are being made behind closed doors," said Mr. McLeod. "We need to open the process. We want to make sure that taxpayers' money is being used for the best purposes."

The chambers argue that planning documents, such as Ontario's "Places to Grow" point out that the majority of the grow in the Greater Toronto Area will develop west of Toronto in Hamilton, while the Pickering area will only experience about 13 per cent growth.

Hamilton International Airport has excess capacity as it reaches to expand the number of passengers. The airport will need over the next few years about $300 million for the expansion.

The airport is expected to hit about 5 million passengers per year. The Hamilton airport generates about 3,600 jobs, $120 million in income, while contributing about $170 million in gross domestic product in the Hamilton area.

Mr. Cannon stated last year in an interview that various studies "have not indicated" that future economic and demographic growth patterns will be concentrated in the Golden Horseshoe or around the Hamilton areas.

For the last four years Hamilton business and political officials, along with airport representatives, have been urging the federal government to quash the Pickering airport development and put more resources into the Hamilton Airport as the most viable secondary airport location in Southern Ontario.

They have pointed out that transportation, demographic and economic trends reveal a more viable airport in Hamilton and not north of Toronto. The Ontario government in its growth studies has identified Hamilton as a growth opportunity, city officials point out.

In 2004 the Greater Toronto Airport Authority announced it had revised plans to build the Pickering airport to make it a "regional reliever."

The idea is to open a Pickering airport by 2012 for general purposes, including flying schools, and by 2032 a terminal would be constructed to accommodate about 10 million passengers per year.

Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty has already sided with Hamilton officials.