Doug Ford takes over Billy Bishop as Ottawa stays on sidelines amid Toronto pushback

“This is long overdue,” he told reporters in an aircraft hangar near the passenger terminal as he derided city councillors who oppose the expansion of the waterfront airport as “lefties.”

“That’s the reason we’re taking it over, because of that attitude not to build anything. But that’s typical from the lefties down at the City of Toronto. I’m used to those guys, believe me,” said the premier, a one-term councillor while his late brother, Rob Ford, was mayor from 2010 to 2014.

“They don’t want to see economic growth. They’d rather see deteriorating similar to Ontario Place,” he said, referring to the lakefront provincial park that is being redeveloped after being closed by the previous Liberal government in 2012.

In Ottawa, federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said the Liberals were “very interested” in Ford’s proposal, which could help address several problems.

“We have an issue with air travel in Toronto. Pearson is a congested airport and there are safety issues at Billy Bishop, so we’ll be working with our partners — once the City of Toronto, now the province of Ontario — to design a path forward for that facility,” said MacKinnon.

“We will be sitting down and looking to sketch the way forward,” he said.

But Chow said “unilateral action to grab city land without consulting Torontonians is not acceptable to people.”

“Torontonians must have a say over the future of their waterfront,” the mayor said in a statement that signalled the island airport could loom large in the Oct. 26 municipal election as it did in the 2003 contest.

“The federal and provincial governments must be transparent with the people of Toronto about their plans for the airport, and the impact it will have on how we enjoy our waterfront, downtown congestion, plans to build more housing and our film sector,” she said.

“If they are planning to expropriate even more city land at Bathurst and Queens Quay to make the airport expansion work, they must consult Torontonians,” said Chow, noting “no work has begun” on a previously announced runway extension to comply with federal safety rules.

Ford said the city would be financially compensated for the takeover and will also receive $5 million annually to make up for lost revenue.

The premier criticized city council for approving the construction of more lakeside condo towers “to block the runway.”

“As for the condos, they’re doing it on purpose. I’ve never seen a group like it,” he said, pointing out the plan would support an estimated 23,000 construction jobs.

Ford also said the province plans to designate the airport a “Special Economic Zone” using powers under Bill 5 to expedite construction of the airport by streamlining approvals, “while maintaining robust safety and environmental protections.” 

Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said the construction “will happen over the next couple of years” and would mean extending the runway into the harbour.

The province will be tabling legislation to formalize its moves within days.

Roelof-Jan (RJ) Steenstra, the Toronto Port Authority’s president and CEO, hailed the proposed 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,” said Steenstra, whose agency owns and operates the airport.

At Queen’s Park, NDP Leader Marit Stiles said “this premier has an unhealthy obsession with the city of Toronto.”

“He is wasting enormous resources and using all of these extraordinary powers around an issue that I would say arguably won’t impact that many people,” said Stiles.

“The expansion of island airport really serves to benefit only his pals on Bay Street. I don’t see anybody else calling for this,” she said.

Interim Liberal leader John Fraser said it’s the first time Ford will use the expansive powers in contentious legislation that passed last year.

“We warned people about Bill 5. We knew this was going to happen. The premier needs to stay in his lane,” said Fraser, urging the Progressive Conservatives to focus on improving health care and education instead of “his pet projects.”

Green Leader Mike Schreiner said deeming the airport an economic zone “is the exact kind of abuse we’ve been worried about.”

“This is another example of the Ford government putting the wealthy and well connected ahead of what’s needed for everyday peoples to be able to afford to live in Ontario,” said Schreiner.

Ford’s announcement comes as Coun. Ausma Malik, (Spadina—Fort York) is asking city council this week to formally oppose  “any unilateral expropriation of city land” by higher levels of government.

“Any significant decisions on the future of Toronto’s waterfront must include Torontonians,” reads her council motion, which was seconded by Chow.

Coun. Paula Fletcher, whose Toronto-Danforth ward includes the Port Lands redevelopment, criticized Ford’s “unbelievable overreach.”

Fletcher also stressed that even if the province can replace the city in the tripartite agreement, Ottawa has the final say over airports and air safety.

“If Mark Carney agrees with Doug Ford taking over the entire waterfront, making decisions without the city, in acting in this Trump-like fashion, he should just say so,” said Fletcher prior to MacKinnon’s comments. 

Billy Bishop is governed by a tripartite agreement composed of the federal government, the federally mandated port authority and the city, each of which owns a portion of the airport land.

But Ford can effectively override any veto from city council because the municipality is a creature of the province and is governed under the City of Toronto Act.

Norm Di Pasquale, a former federal NDP candidate and spokesperson for NoJetsTO, said Ford “has stripped all of our environmental rights and protections from the island airport on our waterfront as he tries to ram jets down our throat.”

Brian Iler, a lawyer and spokesperson for Parks not Planes, said the airport “is subject to federal jurisdiction, under the Canadian Constitution, and the province has little say on how it operates or expands” and implored Ottawa to thwart the project.

In 2015, then prime minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals blocked a proposed expansion by refusing to reopen the tripartite agreement.

With files from Alyshah Hasham and Ryan Tumilty