The City has done a poll by telephone on how people feel about permitting Porter Airlines to fly jets out of Billy Bishop Airport on Toronto Island. The results are very evenly split with 47% being in favour and 45% opposed. The poll’s conclusion was that “half of Torontonians say that an expanded airport with jets does not fit with the revitalized waterfront, and Toronto residents living in the waterfront area are most likely to say that the airport does not fit.” The phone poll seems to have cast the issue as one of clean air and the impact of jets on the use of the island by families. The information campaign to convince people that the Bombardier jets in question are “quiet” — and the fact that they do in fact make noise — is not being emphasized it seems at City Hall.
