Longtime opponents of jets at Billy Bishop airport are revving their engines back up, and challenging Premier Doug Ford’s assertion that public sentiment in waterfront neighbourhoods has shifted in favour of airport expansion.
Last week, Ford revived a contentious proposal to allow longer-haul jets at the Toronto Islands airport, referring to internal government polling that said “70 per cent of the people … living downtown” backed airport expansion, a dramatic change from previous years where the proposal was met with vocal opposition by local residents.
The Toronto Port Authority, a federally mandated agency that owns and operates the airport, formally supported Ford’s comments in a letter on Thursday.
“I was really surprised to hear of this alleged survey of Toronto residents. I would certainly like to see it,” said Jennifer Poon, of the Fort York Neighbourhood Association. “I certainly think the majority of people are still very much opposed to the idea in our waterfront community.”
Proponents of allowing jets at the Island airport argue that it would make a more economically viable airport that’s much closer the city’s main business district than Pearson.
Currently Q400 turboprop planes are the largest aircraft permitted at the airport, whose future is frequently a flashpoint in municipal politics, most recently over an extension of the lease the airport has with the city, as well as plans for a federally mandated runway extension for safety reasons.
Some also worry that the city could end up cut out of a decision-making process that currently must involve all three levels of government.
In a short statement Friday, Mayor Olivia Chow did not comment on the letter or the provincial push for jets.
Council has authorized staff to work with federal agencies to update the Airport Master Plan “through a robust public process,” the mayor’s spokesperson Braman Thillainathan said. “The mayor welcomes the province’s involvement.”
Deputy mayor Ausma Malik, whose Spadina—Fort York ward includes the airport, said in a statement that “any significant decisions on the future of downtown Toronto, our waterfront, and the Island Airport have to be made openly and publicly through a transparent process.”
Chi Nguyen, Liberal MP for Spadina-Harbourfront, said any decision about the airport must “carefully balance the many uses of our waterfront — including residential communities, recreation, the environment, and transportation.”
Advocacy groups said Friday they hope their federal and municipal representatives will fiercely oppose the jet push.
“We said no to this a decade ago, and it makes even less sense now,” said long-time activist Norm Di Pasquale, who is refreshing NoJetsTo, a dormant volunteer organization that helped oppose the jets in previous skirmishes.
“I would expect the mayor to stand up and say this does not fit in with the vision of what Toronto wants for its waterfront,” said Di Pasquale.
Among the reasons residents are opposed to the jets are increased noise, environmental impacts and the potential limits on use of the waterfront for recreational activities like boating.
“I think they are wanting to avoid a good discussion,” said Brian Iler, spokesperson for Parks Not Planes, a group that would rather see communal green space on Toronto island in place of busier runways. “This is 215 acres of exceptional land on our waterfront and its future needs to be fully debated.”
There might also be a new issue to consider — one brought on by the premier himself, Iler said. The lower glide slope of a jet could affect how high some buildings along the waterfront can be, including a possible new convention centre just floated by Ford that he suggested could be built on “fill in” on the Lake Ontario shoreline.
“That’s part of what killed the jets [last time], is the fact they hadn’t thought some of those issues through,” Iler said.
