Mr. Vaughn's views are on this matter are uninformed. They come from the report "Pathways: Connecting Canada's Transportation System to the World" submitted to the Minister Transport by David Emerson former Conservative MP for Vancouver. The report was initiated under the Harper government. The report's aviation section offers little to substantiate this position other than "best practices", and its only other real issue is duty free shops. The examples of best practices are Australia and England. It ignores the practices and model of the most advanced, prolific  aviation country in the world, the one that makes all the worlds rules re aircraft and system design, and is our neighbour to the south.
Airports are the infrastructure support of our airway system, just like our roads, rails and harbours support their respective systems. Airports bind the country together more that the other systems, and are the most strategic. "If you build them, they will come", if you don't they won't.