Doug Ford wants to take over Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and a string of the Toronto Islands and open the door to big jets over our waterfront. But this is a federal decision, and the Government of Canada has opened a public consultation on the airport's future. Your feedback will help decide what happens to Billy Bishop and the Toronto waterfront.

Take action with 2 easy steps:

1. Fill out the government survey. We include information to make doing this easy for you below.

2. Sign our petition so we can keep you informed: https://www.tcndp.ca/waterfront 

You can submit feedback to Transport Canada by:
Completing the anonymous online survey: click here for the survey.

Emailing written feedback to [email protected] with the subject line: Consultation: Future of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport
Mailing written feedback to: Attention: Consultation: Future of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Transport Canada, Air Policy, Place de Ville Tower C, 330 Sparks St, Ottawa ON K1A 0N5

 

Fast Facts:

Cost

• Expansion is far too expensive for taxpayers in a cost-of-living crisis. Porter Airlines assesses that running the same commercial operation out of the island airport is about three times more expensive than at Pearson. A separate 2015 report commissioned by Air Canada found expansion would cost at least $1 billion \u2014 including roughly $50 million for parking and at least $92 million to extend the runway, plus the cost of meeting Transport Canada safety rules. A decade on, the real number is higher. These costs get passed to travellers through ticket prices and airport fees.
• The expansion is unnecessary. Demand at Pearson keeps growing, while Billy Bishop has shed hundreds of thousands of passengers. Pearson's multi-billion-dollar expansion is already approved and funded \u2014 and the UP Express already connects Union Station to Pearson in about 25 minutes, every 15 minutes, seven days a week.

Health & Safety

• It is not safe to have high volumes of jet traffic next to high-rise buildings. Billy Bishop already operates with exemptions from nearly every air-navigation rule. Moving from modest turboprops to large jets raises the risk  and even a minor accident on our crowded waterfront would be devastating.
• Large jets are dangerous to residents' health. They shed ultrafine particles linked by the Toronto Port Authority to a greater risk of lung cancer for nearby residents, including the elementary school across from Little Norway park, just 200 metres from the runway, affecting children's developing lungs. Other noxious pollutants include sulfur dioxide and nitrogen oxides, which have no safe exposure threshold.
• A significant increase in noise will also affect children\u2019s learning, and residents mental health and cardiovascular health.
• The expansion is projected to cause a 450% increase in downtown traffic more idling, pollution, congestion, and collisions in one of the most congested cores in North America.
  The expansion will also dramatically alter the natural beauty and enjoyment of the waterfront and the Toronto islands, impeding our access to nature and the use of our waterfront for recreation.

Environment

• Allowing jets to fly from the island would require extending the runway by 900 metres, plus a new terminal and other infrastructure with harmful impacts on air and water quality, bird migration, and the delicate marine ecosystem of the inner harbour, which supports hundreds of species of plants, fish, and wildlife.
• More flights mean more emissions over a dense waterfront, and a higher risk of biohazard spills like fuel and de-icing fluid. This is the same government that tried to sell off the Greenbelt and scrapped Ontario's climate targets.
• The bottom line: Toronto does not need to pave over its waterfront to meet our region's air-travel needs. Add your voice to the federal consultation, and sign our petition to stop Ford's takeover.

Need a template?

The federal government is consulting the public on the future of Billy Bishop airport and your voice can stop this expansion. Not sure what to say? Copy the text below (and add your own first line), then send it through any of the options that follow.

I'm a resident of Toronto Centre, and I oppose any expansion of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.
Flying larger jets from the island would require a 900-metre runway extension and a new terminal, with real harm to air and water quality, bird migration, and marine life on our central waterfront. It would put jet traffic beside high-rise towers and roughly 200 metres from an elementary school, and is projected to sharply increase downtown traffic and pollution.

It's also a waste of money: independent assessments put expansion in the billion-dollar range and find island operations cost far more than Pearson which the UP Express already connects to Union Station in 25 minutes. Pearson's expansion is already approved and funded.

Toronto does not need to pave over its waterfront to meet our region's air-travel needs. Please do not allow this expansion to proceed.