Conservative leadership candidate Pierre Poilievre says that if he were elected prime minister, he would make changes to Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport to allow planes to fly in and out of the city centre.
The Ottawa MP said his government would “remove the gatekeepers and open the skies to competition” by approving a proposal to extend the runway at the waterfront airport by reopening the Tripartite Agreement with Ports Toronto and the city, which would ultimately allow planes to operate at Billy Bishop. .
“The original proposal was to have low-volume, quiet aircraft that would land here on an extended runway safely in the heart of the business district,” Poilievre said at Billy Bishop Airport Thursday morning. “There was no real security opposition. The real opposition was from people who just don’t want more planes next to an airport, but that’s what airports are for, to attract air passengers.”
He argued that allowing planes into the waterfront airport would not only increase competition, but also shorten travel time, reduce gridlock, create 2,000 jobs and rack up about $55 million in tax revenue.
“Look at Pearson. It’s a zoo there. Why don’t we have competition for long-haul flights?”
In 2015, the federal government led by Justin Trudeau rejected a proposal by Porter Airlines, which operates out of Billy Bishop, that would amend the 1983 Tripartite Agreement that prohibited runway and aircraft expansion unless all parties agreed.
At the time, Porter wanted to extend the runway by 200 meters so planes could take passengers to more destinations, including Vancouver, Los Angeles and the Caribbean.
The proposal was heavily debated by the council, with a large group of residents, organized under the name “NoJetsTO”, arguing that it would cause more noise pollution and could have a negative environmental impact.
Norm Di Pasquale, president of NoJetsTO, told CP24 on Thursday that if the runway were to be expanded, planes would “dominate” Toronto’s waterfront and have a significant impact on other businesses, including the city’s film industry.
“If we were to fly jets out of the island airport, really the jets would end up taking over the entire boardwalk,” he said. “We would have jets roaring over harbor lands, jets roaring over our beautiful revitalized coastline.”
The city just spent $1.2 billion to revitalize the Don River and create space where affordable housing can be built, Di Pasquale said, adding that Poilievre’s argument about gridlock makes no sense considering the UP Express will take travelers to Pearson in about 15 minutes. .
“If we had ten planes landing here at this island airport, we couldn’t build as high up in Port Lands and the movie industry would have planes roaring overhead every 20 to 60 seconds,” he said. “We have to think about what we’re taking away when we add something.”
Poilievre, however, argues that a couple hundred “millionaire mansion owners” are the reason the track has not been allowed to expand.
“The vast majority of working-class customers and workers want this to go ahead because it means higher wages. It means more travel. And it means better options for customers,” he said.
Billy Bishop Airport, located on Toronto Island, currently offers flights to more than 20 cities in Canada and the United States. It carries around 2.8 million passengers a year and is operated by PortsToronto.