As the Carney government kicks off consultations on the expansion of Toronto’s island airport, more than two dozen prominent residents — including a former premier, former mayors, an Olympian and a famed author — are asking Ottawa to pump the brakes.
In an open letter addressed to the prime minister, Margaret Atwood, former premier Bob Rae and Toronto Maple Leafs assistant general manager Hayley Wickenheiser, among others, warned of the potential long-lasting impacts of expanding Billy Bishop airport and asked for detailed information on the plans.
“Large infrastructure decisions shape cities for generations,” the letter reads. “Once major physical urban transformations occur on the Inner Harbour, they will be impossible to reverse.”
The letter calls on the government to provide an “evidence-based, long-term plan” for the future expansion before the public consultations are wrapped up.
“We call upon your government to support full disclosure, to hold open, fully-informed and unbiased public hearings on any such plan, including the trade-offs, size of expected infrastructure, land requirements, cost-benefits, timelines, and the public uses to be sacrificed,” the letter states.
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While Prime Minister Mark Carney said he has “not personally formed an opinion” about the airport expansion, his government has launched public consultations on the future of the airport, including whether or not its runway should be expanded to allow larger planes to land there.
“Feedback gathered through this consultation process will guide any future decisions,” the feds wrote.
The consultation comes after the Ford government passed a law to take control of the City of Toronto’s role in running the airport and to give itself expropriation powers over large swaths of Toronto Island.
The province also plans to designate the area a special economic zone — something that would allow it to bypass provincial and municipal laws to build the airport expansion faster.
As recently as Tuesday, Premier Doug Ford defended the move as an economic driver.
“It’s going to make Pearson [airport] more competitive on flights, and it’s just going to be convenient,” he told reporters in Washington, D.C.
While Ontario did not hold public consultations on the airport, he has repeatedly stated that internal polling has shown more than 70 per cent expressed support for the expansion of the airport.
Ford has not presented that polling publicly, nor has the government shared the questions asked in the poll.
The authors of the letter, however, are appealing to the prime minister to halt the plans, given that the federal government has the power to kill or severely limit the project because it controls both aviation and the agreement that governs Billy Bishop.
“Your government must decide whether or not to expand the airport and introduce jets,” the letter reads. “That responsibility cannot be surrendered to a provincial government seeking to assert sole control.”
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