Deputy mayor Norm Kelly would do well to remember the general election of 2003 when David Miller defeated the popular John Tory by about 30,000 votes. That outcome holds a profound lesson for the deputy mayor, who it seems, clearly favours the extension of runways and the introduction of jets at the Island Airport. Many people believe that Mr. Miller won that election ten years ago on one issue and one issue only. People simply did not want a bridge to the island airport. They knew then — and we suspect they know now — what noise and expansion it would inevitably bring with it. The matter of the Toronto Islands as a parkland, and reasonable peace overhead in our central neighborhoods, is an issue that steamrollers the politics of left and right. Mr. Kelly talks about the airport as a civic “asset” he wishes to grow. This is the same argument that voters rejected in 2003. People still view the island airport as an asset to Porter Airlines and to no one else. The real civic asset is an island fit for the peoples recreation. City Council must demand that jets at the island airport be rejected.
