Recap: Speaker Series 8: How Do We Talk About the Future of the Island Airport?

We had a very successful event last night, featuring Nicole Swerhun who leads a team of process facilitators at Third Party Public (formerly Swerhun Inc.) that engages many different voices in discussions about all things public - from public assets and public policies to public spaces and public services. She creates tools to broadly share information, and seeks feedback on the information shared.

Nicole brought this experience to bear in her cogent talk on how we can meaningfully and effectively talk about the future of the Island Airport. We also featured Waterfront for All board members, Ron Jenkins and Brian Iler providing short talks on Island Airport's "runway end safety area" challenges  and the recent financial developments affecting Porter Airlines and the airport operators. Finally, we were pleased to have Spadina Fort York City Councillor Ausma Malik join us and participate in the evening. 

A video recording of the December 13 event is now posted.

As a grassroots community organization we rely on volunteers and modest fundraising to continue being able to put on public and online events, if you can make a donation to help us please click here to donate

Here, below, is the background information we shared on our Event Page (which everyone who RSVP'd can still access directly at https://islandairportfutures.obv.io)

BACKGROUND INFORMATION from Speaker Series 8, December 13, 2022:

TRANSPORT CANADA: RUNWAY END SAFETY AREA (RESA) REQUIREMENTS

RESA — Requirements

302.602 (1) A RESA shall have a minimum length of 150 m and shall conform to the requirements respecting location, characteristics and objects in the runway end safety area set out in 3.2 of Chapter 3 of the document entitled Aerodrome Standards and Recommended Practices, TP 312E, published by the Department of Transport.

(2) The operator of an airport may reduce the length of the ASDA, LDA or TORA in order to obtain the minimum length referred to in subsection (1).

(3) The minimum length referred to in subsection (1) does not apply if the operator of an airport installs an arresting system that is designed to stop an aeroplane in the event that the aeroplane overruns a runway and that conforms to the requirements regarding such a system set out in 3.2 of Chapter 3 of TP 312E.

(4) A RESA is not required before the starting point of the LDA if

  • (a) the runway is equipped with a serviceable precision approach path indicator (PAPI) or abbreviated precision approach path indicator (APAPI); or
  • (b) an instrument approach procedure with approved vertical guidance that is not restricted by a special authorization or an operations specification is available in respect of the runway.

(5) For the purposes of paragraph (4)(b), approved vertical guidance means glide slope deviation information provided to a pilot until the decision height is reached to assist in the carrying out of a three-dimensional instrument approach without a missed approach point, but in respect of a missed approach segment that begins at the decision height.

https://www.gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2022/2022-01-05/html/sor-dors269-eng.html

Please click here or on the "Read More" button below to see more background information on the Tripartite Agreement, the History of the Island Airport, and more ... 

 

Background on Tripartite Agreement

On June 30, 1983, the City of Toronto, the federal Minister of Transportation and the Toronto Harbour Commissioners (now the Toronto Port Authority) signed the tripartite agreement that governs what can — and mostly what cannot — happen at the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. The agreement, meant to be in place until 2033, has been amended twice. The first time was in 1985, to allow the currently used Bombardier Q400 (known then as the de Havilland Dash 8) on the restrictive list of aircraft permitted to use the airport. The agreement firmly continues to state there are no jets allowed. The second time was in 2003, to allow the pedestrian tunnel to be built.

History of the Island Airport

Ron Jenkins: A History of the Island Airport

Transportation Safety Board of Canada

Runway end safety area (RESA) requirements

New Porter jets will fly out of Toronto Pearson Airport to western Canada

For the first time in its 16-year history, Porter Airlines will be flying commercial jets out of Toronto Pearson International Airport. The flights will connect Toronto with Vancouver, Ottawa and Montreal starting in February 2023, with the airline promising an “enjoyable economy air travel for every passenger.”

Parks Not Planes

Parks not Planes Members of Parks not Planes are your neighbours. Join us in the effort to turn the Island Airport lands into a magnificent park.

Harbour City - Zeidler vision for housing on the Islands - 1960s

Proposed in the late 1960s, the plan would have dramatically reshaped Toronto's waterfront. At the time, there was serious talk of relocating the island airport to the east end of the islands (near the Leslie St. Spit), which would have freed up the west end for urban development. But more than just a project involving the existing land on the island, Harbour City was to include mixed-use development on an additional 510 acres of artificial land.

Navy Pier - Chicago

100 years of Navy Pier

Please click here or on the "Read More" button below to see more background information on the Tripartite Agreement, the History of the Island Airport, and more ... 

Latest posts

Waterfront for All - Waterfront Update June 2026 - Click here to Sign Up as a Member today
by donating $20 or more annually to get our newsletter.

Here are some highlights: 

“Reality Check” by Prominent Torontonians

Ken Greenberg, Margaret Atwood, former Ontario Premier Bob Rae, David Mirvish, former Mayors David Crombie and Art Eggleton, and other notable Torontonians are delivering a Reality Check to federal Liberal MPs. [https://torealitycheck.ca/]

This web site also includes a substantial report on the proposed BBTCA runway expansion [https://torealitycheck.ca/full-report.pdf] as well as a report summary: [https://torealitycheck.ca/executive-summary.pdf].

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Scarborough Bluffs West Project

The Scarborough Bluffs West Project is major initiative from the Toronto Region Conservation Authority and the City of Toronto on a key section of our waterfront. It follows the Scarborough Waterfront Project on the eastern section of the Bluffs (from Bluffers Beach to East Point Park), that is currently in its implementation phase. 

The Scarborough Bluffs West Project Environmental Assent will explore enhancing and protecting the sensitive shoreline and the Bluffs from erosion, as well as opportunities for improved waterfront experience and trail access between the Eastern Beaches (Silver Birch Avenue) and Bluffer’s Park along Lake Ontario.

Visit the link for detailed consultation materials and to complete a survey on the project (deadline: June 30 2026).

HERE IS THE LINK TO HAVE YOUR SAY: https://www.toronto.ca/community-people/get-involved/public-consultations/infrastructure-projects/scarborough-bluffs-west-revitalization/

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City Staff submitted a report dated May 28, 2026 to the Planning and Housing Committee saying the latest jet proposal has huge implications for planning and housing in the fastest-growing areas of Toronto, yet the City has been given almost no information.

Ed Hore, Chair of WFA, commented at the June 11 Committee meeting that the Toronto Port Authorities' jet proposal is amateurish and vague, yet we know from TPA's long-secret Environmental Assessment of the 2013 - 2015 jets proposal that the effects on the waterfront will be huge. Toronto Port Authority never submitted detailed plans of that proposal to the regulator.  Everyone had to guess at the effects for two and a half years. The federal government eventually realized the proposal was nonsense, and quashed it in 2015.

This time, the City should be the adult in the room; it must keep trying to determine the impacts of jets on the waterfront and the city. No other level of government seems to think the details matter. 

 

Save the Date for Speaker Series 24 "The Costs of Uncertainty: BBCA Expansion Proposal" (you know that vague 'plan' for jets at YTZ!)

We are pleased to announce that Ken Greenberg will be joining us as a special guest speaker. Ken is an urban designer, teacher, writer, former Director of Urban Design and Architecture for the City of Toronto, Principal of Greenberg Consultants, and a Member of the Order of Canada.

Click here to RSVP

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