halt Ontario\u2019s plan for a major expansion of Billy Bishop airport<\/a> will guard Toronto\u2019s waterfront against serious setbacks to its revitalization, advocates say \u2014 while proponents of the project dub the move \u201cdisappointing.\u201d<\/p>\nThe project would involve increased pollution and \u201cmassive destruction\u201d of the Toronto Islands after billions of dollars invested in lakefront rehabilitation over the past couple of decades, said Tim Gray, executive director of Environmental Defence.<\/p>\n
He pointed to the nearly kilometre of lakefill needed to build a runway and taxiways as well as the \u201cgridlock\u201d and aircraft emissions the additional plane traffic would cause on shore.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe federal government listened to the people of Toronto who organized by the tens of thousands to push back against this proposal,\u201d Gray said. \u201cIt shows that people working together can make real change and protect their city.\u201d<\/p>\n
On Friday, federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon said the government is \u201cexclusively\u201d focused on approved safety upgrades already underway at Billy Bishop, rather than on building it out to allow jets to land.<\/p>\n
He said the conclusion was based on public consultations that garnered more than 87,000 responses. But MacKinnon also left the door open a crack to a potential change of course in future years, framing the decision as \u201cat this stage,\u201d instead of as a final one.<\/p>\n
Advocates say the federal government\u2019s decision to halt Ontario\u2019s plan for a major expansion of Billy Bishop airport will guard Toronto\u2019s waterfront against serious setbacks to its revitalization. Tim Gray, executive director of Environmental Defence, says the project would involve \u201cmassive destruction\u201d of the Toronto Islands after billions of dollars invested in waterfront rehabilitation over the past couple of decades. <\/p>\n
Giles Gherson, CEO of Toronto Region Board of Trade, called the decision \u201cdisappointing.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 1983 operating agreement governing the airport locks it into a single \u201caging\u201d aircraft type \u2014 turboprops \u2014 and needs updating, with appropriate guardrails for concerns ranging from flightpaths to passenger growth, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe future of Billy Bishop is not a choice between the status quo and an intrusive mega-airport on the water \u2014 it is between stagnation and a valuable regional airport that modernizes with staged growth over time to meet the needs of a rising population,\u201d Gherson said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe board is not looking for revolution, we\u2019re looking for Billy Bishop\u2019s evolution.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ontario Premier Doug Ford\u2019s proposal to extend the runway 600 metres west \u2014 on top of the 150-metre runway end safety zones already in the offing \u2014 drew criticism from environmental and community advocates over concerns around the project\u2019s effect on noise, traffic and pollution levels as well as affordable housing and the Toronto waterfront itself.<\/p>\n
It made up one piece in a broader bid by the Ford government to overhaul the city\u2019s shores. The grand plans include a redeveloped Ontario Place, currently under construction, a possible new island to hold a massive convention centre and legislation that saw the province take over the city\u2019s role in Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport in order to expand it \u2014 an effort that is now grounded.<\/p>\n
Ontario Transport Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said the province will continue trying to advance an expansion, stressing its benefits for job creation and economic growth.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs this work continues, we look forward to seeing and anticipate a plan that ensures the project protects public spaces, including the Toronto Islands, addresses potential noise and environmental impacts, expands and improves Little Norway Park, supports new housing opportunities in the area, and delivers lasting benefits for local communities,\u201d he said in an emailed statement.<\/p>\n
Ken Greenberg, an urban designer who helped lead a group called Reality Check that opposed the provincial plan, said the expansion would have undone five decades of progress in reconnecting Toronto with its place of origin on Lake Ontario. <\/p>\n
Greenberg described the Toronto harbour, which is formed by the islands that lie just offshore and host Billy Bishop, as the \u201ccrown jewel\u201d in the waterline of Ontario\u2019s Golden Horseshoe.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Toronto waterfront is the most democratic space we have,\u201d he said, pointing to its roughly 18 million annual visitors. \u201cThis is cottage country for Torontonians who don\u2019t have cottages.\u201d<\/p>\n
Proponents such as the Toronto Region Board of Trade have argued that small jets such as the Airbus A220 that would operate out of Billy Bishop are fuel-efficient and at least as quiet as the roughly 150 turboprop planes that currently touch down there daily.<\/p>\n
Greenberg took issue with the characterization. \u201cThere\u2019s no such thing as a whisper jet; it\u2019s an oxymoron,\u201d Greenberg said. \u201cThe difference is not a single airplane, it\u2019s the frequency.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ford government has said the airport would eventually notch a projected 10 million passengers a year and generate $8.5 billion in annual economic benefits.<\/p>\n
In March, the premier said he aimed to make the airport a so-called \u201cspecial economic zone.\u201d Under a law passed last year, the designation allows cabinet to sidestep any and all provincial and municipal laws in a given area.<\/p>\n
Under another bill that received royal assent last month, the province took Toronto\u2019s spot in a tripartite agreement that governs the airport land. Previously, the accord was between the city, the federal government and the Toronto Port Authority, a federal agency.<\/p>\n
Critics note that the province has not furnished a detailed business plan or conducted health or environmental studies on the would-be airport expansion, which the port authority projected would cost between $4 billion and $5 billion over 25 years.<\/p>\n
Anne Golden, former CEO of the Conference Board of Canada, called the economic arguments \u201cbogus.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cToronto has to be connected to a global world,\u201d she acknowledged, but said Pearson airport plays that role, with a multibillion-dollar expansion underway.<\/p>\n
In May, a report from city staff warned that an expansion at Billy Bishop could create \u201cadverse effects\u201d for housing, congestion, the environment and the waterfront more broadly.<\/p>\n
The federal government\u2019s decision Friday echoes one from 2015, when then-prime minister Justin Trudeau refused to reopen the tripartite agreement, effectively quashing a push by Porter Airlines to operate jets at the airport.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 25, 2026.<\/p>\n
Christopher Reynolds, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"CTV News Toronto\u2019s Beth Macdonell reports on Ottawa\u2019s decision and who is celebrating the decision. The federal government\u2019s…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":959716,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2],"tags":[64,2147,50,39343,80,6187],"class_list":["post-959715","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-business","tag-canada","tag-news","tag-ontario-quebec","tag-politics","tag-transport"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116984418571178796","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959715","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=959715"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/959715\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/959716"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=959715"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=959715"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=959715"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}