The thing that people keep forgetting is that all the U.S. carriers out of YEG are flying to their hubs. They are looking for the connecting traffic out of YEG to other destinations not just local traffic. How many people actually get off in MSP or IAH or SEA and how many are connecting? I am not making excuses for the lack of service out of Edmonton but how come NW doesn't start a flight YEG-LAX or to ORD...because there is not enough traffic to warrant such a flight it is better for them to send everyone through the hub. So in AC case for YEG it would be YYC for eastern Canada it would be YYZ.