{"id":159308,"date":"2026-08-07T11:00:09","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T11:00:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/159308\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T11:00:09","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T11:00:09","slug":"canada-will-build-at-speeds-not-seen-in-generations-unless-of-course-theres-a-byelection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/159308\/","title":{"rendered":"Canada will build at speeds not seen in generations \u2013 unless, of course, there\u2019s a byelection"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

Ontario is planning to take over Little Norway Park, alongside Billy Bishop Airport lands.Duane Cole\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The proposed expansion of the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport was a test case for Prime Minister Mark Carney \u2013 and a fairly straightforward one, too.<\/p>\n

Here was an infrastructure project that did not involve multiple jurisdictions, competing provincial interests, or Indigenous land claims (though in late May, the Haudenosaunee Development Institute asked to be formally consulted<\/a> on the plans). The federal government didn\u2019t even need to initiate development plans: This was Ontario Premier Doug Ford\u2019s baby. All Ottawa needed to do, really, was stand back and let it happen. <\/p>\n

There was massive opposition to the expansion of the airport, of course, as there has been for virtually any effort to increase flight operations at Billy Bishop. Opposition to a bridge to the island airport arguably turned the mayoral race in 2003 in David Miller\u2019s favour. There was a protest staged the first day<\/a> a Porter plane took off from Toronto Island to Ottawa. There were rallies and protests against a plan to allow jets to operate<\/a> out of the airport in 2015. And most recently, more than 87,000 people responded to a call for consultation from the government about expanding the island airport \u2013 again to allow jets \u2013 with 87 per cent opposed.<\/p>\n

Ottawa won\u2019t rule out jets at Billy Bishop airport despite rejecting Doug Ford\u2019s expansion pitch<\/a><\/p>\n

Those results clearly reflect some degree of selection bias, since random-sample polling shows more of a split: According to a recent Liaison Strategies poll,<\/a> roughly 49 per cent of Torontonians oppose the airport expansion, while 46 per cent are in support. Initially, Mr. Carney was among those seemingly supportive of the plan, which he dubbed a \u201cvery interesting vision\u201d when asked about it back in March<\/a>. \u201cBig possibilities there,\u201d he said, while also noting that it was too early to make a definitive decision. <\/p>\n

But that was before Liberal MP Nate Erskine-Smith confirmed he would be resigning his seat in Beaches-East York, a riding that stretches down to the eastern waterfront of Toronto, where the effects of expanded airport operations will be felt most acutely. The riding has been held by the Liberals federally since 2015, but it was won by the NDP in 2011, and tends to vote NDP provincially. A federal byelection is now slated for Aug. 31, when Mr. Erksine-Smith\u2019s former staffer, Tanveer Shahnawaz, hopes to hang onto the seat. <\/p>\n

Mr. Shahnawaz, a relative political unknown, would have had no chance of doing that had the NDP been given the space to leverage opposition to the island airport expansion. So Mr. Carney took that space away: Late last month, Ottawa announced<\/a> it was blocking Mr. Ford\u2019s plans to expand the airport to allow jet operations, citing the \u201cfeedback\u201d the Transport Minister has received on the project. But this week, when asked whether he has decided to put off the decision to allow jets \u201cforever,\u201d the Prime Minister responded: \u201cForever is a long time.\u201d<\/a> Indeed, perhaps his opinion will again change, as early as the morning of Sept. 1.<\/p>\n

Reasonable arguments can be made both for the airport expansion (job creation, traveller convenience, economic output, greater aviation-industry competition) and against it (greater noise and air pollution, increased congestion, and lakefill disruption, though that is already happening to some degree with runway safety expansions). But this government has repeatedly insisted<\/a> that economic development is at the forefront of its political agenda: That \u201cto become the strongest economy in the G7, Canada must act now. Invest now. Precisely when it\u2019s hard.\u201d That \u201cCanada must build critical new infrastructure at speeds not seen in generations.\u201d <\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Carney must have forgotten to add \u201cunless there is a byelection coming up\u201d when he made these urgent appeals for action. <\/p>\n

Opinion: Gordie Howe International Bridge report shows how Ottawa shirks accountability for major projects<\/a><\/p>\n

Surely the PMO recognizes that the loudest opponents to any project will always be the most inclined to offer feedback, which is why 87 per cent of self-selected respondents urged Ottawa to block Mr. Ford\u2019s proposal. But that was apparently enough to spook the federal government into blocking the project \u201cat this time,\u201d especially considering the earful that Toronto Liberal MPs had already been getting<\/a> from their constituents. <\/p>\n

Mr. Carney vowed to get things built, but in this fairly uncomplicated case, with a geographically contained opposition and without any particular special interest, he\u2019s already stumbled. How strong will Mr. Carney\u2019s resolve to build be when actual plans for a new pipeline, or mine, or high-speed rail run through disputed Indigenous territory, or run afoul of provincial interests, or provoke more organized climate activists? What happens if there is a byelection slated in some of those areas too? <\/p>\n

Mr. Carney has failed his own test of building major projects now, \u201cprecisely when it\u2019s hard.\u201d Perhaps he\u2019ll opt for a do-over \u2013 just as soon as the byelection is over.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: Ontario is planning to take over Little Norway Park, alongside Billy Bishop Airport…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[98],"tags":[3118,135,111,3119],"class_list":["post-159308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mark-carney","tag-column","tag-dei","tag-mark-carney","tag-opinion"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=159308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=159308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=159308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=159308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}