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Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is backing the Ontario government’s move to expand Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport, saying it would be great for the economy and increase competition.
He made the comments only a short distance from Billy Bishop on Sunday while making a separate announcement on government debt.
“This is great for the economy, for the environment and for convenience,” Poilievre said. “This is the business district of our biggest city, why would we not want business travellers to arrive in our business district?”
Poilievre previously called on the federal government in 2022 to approve a runway expansion at the airport to allow jets to fly in and out of downtown.
Echoing comments made then, the Conservative Party leader said it would help with competition in the aviation sector and reduce traffic congestion.
“It would take traffic off the highways between downtown and Pearson and it would allow us to expand our air transportation,” Poilievre said. “Also, Pearson is a disaster. Why is Pearson so bad? Because there is no competition for many of its flights. By extending the runway, Pearson would have to fight for more air transportation traffic and perform better.”
Barely a month after winning their majority government in 2015, the federal Liberals shut down plans to expand Billy Bishop, saying at the time that the tripartite agreement which bans jets from flying to and from the island airport would not be reopened.
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More than a decade later, the Ford government has tabled legislation which would give the province the power to take control of land in and around the island travel hub and replace the City of Toronto in that tripartite agreement.
That move has not been received well by the municipality nor opposition MPPs, with Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow stating the province “unilaterally taking city land is not acceptable.”
Chow tabled a motion last month opposing the move and suggested the province should buy the properties of residents affected and apologize.
“The province is about to uproot a complete community, take our land, and pave over Little Norway Park. That sends a signal to all Torontonians, if the province wants to, they can take land, public space and parks to pave them without the City of Toronto having a say,” Chow said.
Several Toronto-area NDP MPPs have also expressed concerns, saying last Tuesday it could “destroy” the waterfront. They also said there’s been concerns about air and noise pollution, and the exemptions that would be needed to allow jets to fly low on the city’s skyline and if it’s safe to increase air traffic around high rises.
What the province and Billy Bishop plan to do with the land and expansion remains unclear, with Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sakaria unable to tell reporters two weeks ago how long the new runway would need to be to accommodate jets.
There’s also no timeline for the work to be completed, although the government says it intends to get started immediately.
—with files from Global News’ Isaac Callan and Colin D’Mello and The Canadian Press
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