The new transportation minister, Marc Garneau, has made it clear that there will be no expansion of the Toronto Island (Billy Bishop) Airport to accommodate jets. The minister had seemed to deviate from a firm promise made by the Liberals during their election campaign by saying he was still thinking about expansion. Late yesterday he tweeted that the government’s position is the same as stated. “As the new Minister of Transport, I have been enjoying learning about my files, including re: Toronto Island Airport,” Mr. Garneau said. “I confirm that GoC position is the same as LPC (Liberal Party) commitment: we will not re-open tripartite agreement for YTZ.”
IS THIS THE END?
The news will please many in South Bayview where passenger aircraft noise from Porter Airline flights has been a regular feature since the company began service. It seems unlikely to end the issue in the long term however. At City Hall, resistance to the jet scheme has been very uncertain. The mayor took the position that he would not vote on the question because of his son’s employment. It effectively removed — or so it seemed — important leadership. The issue, as put forward by former mayors Crombie, Sewell and Eggleton in a joint statement, is that the inevitable outcome of permitting jets on the island will be justifiable demands from commuter carriers in eastern Canada and the U.S. for equal access. And thus a much larger, noisier airport
BOMBARDIER
The politics of Quebec will never go away. The Liberals will not be indifferent to the Bombardier factor in that province. The Bombardier streetcar plant is in Ontario. But where are the streetcars? And speaking of uncertainty, it does not require a very long memory to recall that Robert Deluce, head of Porter Airlines, pledged for many years that he would never ask to put jets at the airport. But then he did.
