Poll: Merger support rises
Wood pellet exports double
Nearly $500K for car crash
Minister defends right to bail
Vise grips as steering wheel
$36M for vaccine injury 
New US rules for airlines 
Historic Trump hearing 
Pig kidney transplant 
Big loss for Boeing 
Metro sales edged higher
Retail sales slip 
Warriors snakebitten in loss
Iginla off to Europe
Rockets ink prospect
Perry teams with Lu Kala
Megan denies harassment
Swift ‘one of the family’
Sun Peaks will be getting a new heliport from the province to aid emergency responses on the mountain.
The village will be receiving $950,000 from the ministry of transportation and infrastructure to build a new heliport to be used by emergency services.
“We hired a consultant to find the best location, at the present time, for emergency landings on the mountain,” said Sun Peaks’ Mayor Al Raine.
“It’s in the far eastern part of Sun Peaks, and it's been a location that the heliport people have chosen and is the most reliable position weather wise and with the least amount of interference from other activities.”
The location will be east of the new Switchback Creek subdivision, according to Raine.
“Last summer, a couple of times, they tried to land on the golf course, but that wasn’t possible and the parking lot was full of dust — was a bit dangerous too. So this location will be the best location,” said Raine.
Raine said that the new heliport will be mainly used for medical emergencies year-round.
“Its accommodating winter and summer. So we’ve had heart attacks, we’ve had bad bicycle accidents in summer months,” said Raine.
“Obviously, you can save lives and that’s important. If it’s a life here, life there, it’s very important.”
The province is investing $19.8 million in the latest round of BC Air Access Program projects to support economic development, improve aviation services and enhance access to rural communities.
The program requires airports, heliports and water aerodromes submit proposals to access grants to support infrastructure upgrades.
The near million dollars being invested into the heliport is only one of 40 projects at 29 air facilities that the province will be investing in.
The BCAAP launched in 2015, and has since committed $66.8 million in grants to infrastructure projects at 71 air facilities.
The program is open to applicants from facilities that serve fewer than a million passengers per year and are eligible for as much as $2 million.
