Mark Carney is open to Doug Ford's 'vision' for Billy Bishop expansion

That was his first public comment on the matter since the premier announced a week ago Queen’s Park was usurping the City of Toronto’s place in the tripartite agreement governing Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to expand the runway for commuter jets.

“It’s a shared jurisdiction and we’re engaged in discussions with the province of Ontario … so we have some component of responsibility there,” said the prime minister, noting he has worked well with both Ford and Chow on reducing development charges to get housing built and on the shared funding to build a new Lake Shore East LRT line.

“The scale of what we’re announcing truly is a game changer for the housing market here in Toronto, across Ontario. We’ll move on to the next things right away,” he said, referring to Billy Bishop.

Carney acknowledged “there is an efficiency” to Ford’s move to take over the city’s role with the airport.

“We deal directly with the province. Just to be clear, it’s something that’s moving. The federal government’s now getting involved, but we’re not going to make a premature determination on it,” he said, pointing to “the level of co-operation and engagement and the focus on making progress and getting things done.”

Ford, for his part, said “our approach for the airport is collaborate with the federal government and the city and ourselves and bring a great opportunity to the City of Toronto that’s well overdue.”

Chow, who last week expressed her displeasure with the province’s “unilateral” move, conceded only Carney can thwart the expansion.

“The prime minister is in the driver’s seat,” said the mayor, noting an already approved extension of the runway to meet new federal safety guidelines has yet to be completed even though it’s supposed to be operational next year.

“There’s a deadline of July 2027 for safety,” she said.

Before being hustled away by her aides, Chow, a long-time critic of the island airport, said “there should be a process where everyone gets consulted.”

Liberal MP Julie Dzerowicz (Davenport), chair of the federal Toronto caucus, stressed “we are committed to meaningful consultations” with the community, which could take “a year or two” and would allow for many voices to be heard.

“That is with all stakeholder groups, that’s with community groups, that’s with Indigenous groups,” said Dzerowicz.

“We want to maximize all the assets that we have and Billy Bishop is one of our assets,” she said.

“Any decision about Billy Bishop has to be unanimous. It’s all three parties of the tripartite agreement, so the ports authority, which is a federal agency, Transport Canada, and whether it’s the city or the province that’s all three. Two of those parties are federal.”

Chow’s ongoing concern over the airport suggests it could be a major issue in the October civic election — much as it was in the 2003 vote when David Miller edged out John Tory.

While city council opposes expanding the airfield, the premier has dismissed them as “lefties” who “don’t want to see economic growth.”

Queen’s Park will financially compensate the city for the takeover and also pay out $5 million annually to make up for lost revenue.

The province plans to designate the airport a “special economic zone” using controversial powers under Bill 5 to expedite construction of the airport by streamlining environmental and planning approvals.

It is expected to be completed in the next several years, including extending the runway into the harbour.

Roelof-Jan (RJ) Steenstra, the Toronto Port Authority’s president and CEO, has hailed the changes.

“For us this means expanding connectivity, responding to population growth and rising aviation demand, protecting access to northern and remote communities, strengthening tourism and trade, and embracing modern aircraft types that are cleaner, quieter and more efficient,” Steenstra, whose agency owns and operates the airport, said last week.

Local activists, like NoJetsTO and Parks not Planes, have opposed the redevelopment.

Carney’s position differs from his predecessor — in 2015, then prime minister Justin Trudeau blocked a proposed expansion by refusing to reopen the tripartite agreement.