‘Neutral’ quartet wants to help city

By MARKUS ERMISCH Staff reporterJan 19 2007 http://www.kamloopsthisweek.com/

A group of four Kamloops businessmen hope to bring a third, less political perspective to a quest to find federal funds for the expansion of Kamloops Airport. “We don’t really carry any baggage, one way or another, in terms of lining up with council or the MP,” said local lawyer and businessman Russ Cundari. “It’s sort of a neutral group.” Cundari disagrees with any notion that the quartet will be doing a job that should be done by the MP, namely to lobby Ottawa for funds.

He said local Conservative MP Betty Hinton and city have done a good job, adding that he and the other three can contribute the perspective of private enterprise to the lobbying effort.
Hinton announced Tuesday that Cundari, Sun Peaks Resort general manager Darcy Alexander, lawyer Frank Quinn and former B.C. attorney general Bud Smith would be willing to work with the Kamloops Airport Society (KAS). In the next few weeks, Coun. John O’Fee, who is also president of the KAS, said he’ll flesh out what role the four men could fill. O’Fee said he is unsure as to what the quartet can do that the KAS or city council has not yet done.

“We’ve certainly been knocking on every door that we have been made aware of,” he said.
“We’ve certainly talked to everybody that we’ve been made aware of that we should be talking to.” Cundari said the four men may be able to rely on past associations.“The reality is that we all have contacts, and some of the contacts may be different from the city’s contacts or the MP’s contacts,” said Cundari, who managed Hinton’s most recent election campaign and once ran for office under the Progressive Conservatives in the 1980s. “It may carry some weight, or it may not. But it can’t hurt.” Expanding the airport will cost at least $20 million. So far, only the province has pledged a $4-million contribution. Federal funding application are still outstanding.