A Toronto councillor whose ward includes Billy Bishop airport is asking city council to formally oppose Premier Doug Ford’s move to expropriate land to bring jets to the island facility.
In her motion at next week’s council meeting, Coun. Ausma Malik, (Spadina—Fort York) is asking council to oppose “any unilateral expropriation of city land” by higher levels of government. Her move comes in response to the premier’s recent announcement that the province will be taking over the city’s share of the land at the island airport — and thus decision-making power.
“Any significant decisions on the future of Toronto’s waterfront must include Torontonians,” reads Malik’s motion, seconded by Mayor Olivia Chow. “It’s our waterfront and we’ve worked hard to make it an extraordinary place to live, work and visit.”
While comments from federal and provincial politicians “set expectations that the other orders of government may seek to change the character and uses of the waterfront, the city has not received a proposal or any details,” adds the motion.
“The plan, if there is one, remains a mystery.”
The motion also says council should ask the federal and provincial governments “to include Toronto residents and their democratically elected municipal government in all significant decisions impacting Toronto, including decisions about the uses and future of the Toronto waterfront.”
The airport is governed by a tripartite agreement composed of the city, the federal government and the federally-mandated Toronto Port Authority, each of which owns a portion of the airport land.
Ford’s recent push for jets at the island airport has revived long-standing concerns about noise, air quality and the potential impacts of a longer runway and lower flight paths on the harbour and surrounding waterfront highrise development in the Port Lands.
Meanwhile, local federal politicians have sought to assure Torontonians that public consultation is a crucial part of any such process.
“I want to hear from our residents. And I have been having conversations with the community, with community members about their concerns, their thoughts and their aspirations for where the future of the airport goes,” said Liberal MP Chi Nguyen, first elected a year ago in Spadina-Harbourfront, the federal riding that includes the airport. “We’re in listening mode.”
Nguyen was speaking earlier this week, at an federal funding announcement at The Corleck, a new arts and cultural centre being developed by the Canada Ireland Foundation in a once derelict historic building next to the Billy Bishop Airport terminal on Eireann Quay. It is expected to open in the summer.
At the same event Etobicoke-Lakeshore MP James Maloney said that an “operationally maximized” airport would make a “positive contribution” to the new centre.
He said the airport is an “infrastructure gem” and a vital hub for regional transportation in the province, including from Northern Ontario.
“We want to see what’s best for this waterfront community,” he said.
