Don’t miss Ken Greenberg’s opinion piece in the Toronto Star, July 8, 2026; if the Federal government delays quashing the BBTCA jets proposal, the resulting uncertainty will hurt the multi-billion Toronto Waterfront revitalization project because key investments won’t happen.
Safety First! Stop the island airport’s lobbying bullies!
The federal government requires that Toronto Island Airport build Runway End Safety Areas (RESAs) in less than three years - by July 14, 2027.
City staff in an exhaustive report dated September 27, 2024 recommended focussing on safety for now; build the simplest, least expensive option that keeps people safe, the so-called RESA 1 option. Otherwise Ports Toronto would miss the deadline.
Staff recommended that bigger questions about the airport and its future should be studied over the next few years with lots of public consultation. Executive Committee of Council adopted that staff recommendation on October 1.
But Ports Toronto and Nieuport have been lobbying Councillors for months to ignore the staff report, and expand the airport NOW in ways NOT related to safety.
They demand Council allow a much bigger airport NOW. Most of all, they demand an automatic extension of the Tripartite Agreement past its expiry in 2033 NOW - so the airport would exist and expand for an extra 40 years - without any public consultation or study.
The matter goes to City Council, in a vote this coming Wednesday, October 9, 2024.
Call or write your councillor on Monday before this goes to City Council. Click here to check your Ward & Find your Councillor.
Tell him or her Council should adopt the Staff Report and its recommendations when Council votes on October 9!
Torontonians should NOT vote away their right to have a say on the future of the island airport!
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Latest posts
Bob Rae talks with Steve Paikin on The Paikin Podcast about Billy Bishop Airport & other current issues. [Note: Bob Rae's remarks on Billy Bishop begin at the 24:10 min mark.] Click here to go to the video.
Recommending Sandford Borins' excellent blog post on the lessons for us today from the Pickering Airport debate and analysis in the 1970s:
In 1972, it was clearly understood that air traffic in Toronto was increasing, and it would be accommodated at either Pearson or Pickering. Both were seen as having a regional economic impact, in that Pearson would contribute to growth on the west side of Toronto, while establishing an airport at Pickering would shift some growth to the east of the city. Overall economic activity in the GTA would be the same whether Pearson was expanded or a new airport built at Pickering. This is different from the Toronto Port Authority and Ford Government refusing to acknowledge that, if Billy Bishop is not expanded, traffic will be accommodated at Pearson, and overall economic activity will be the same.