Latest / THE DAILY BRIEF / Federal government won't support Ontario's Billy Bishop Airport expansion

Transcript

Federal government won't support Ontario's Billy Bishop Airport expansion · THE DAILY BRIEF

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Okay, Plans to expand Toronto's Billy Bishop Airport in the
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: city's harbor have been grounded. Maybe no, no, no, they
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: really have. The federal government has rejected Ontario's plan to
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: allow jets to fly in and out of the downtown area.
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: The province had pitched a longer runway, saying that the
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: expansion would increase capacity, but the proposal faced significant pushback
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: over concerns about noise, environmental impact, and public health. CBC's
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: Linda Ward is in studio with me now. She's been
• 0:26
  Speaker 1: tracking the story. So what do we know so far.
• 0:28
  Speaker 2: We'll we'll talk about that maybe in a little bit here,
• 0:31
  Speaker 2: but let's get to the decision first. So this decision
• 0:34
  Speaker 2: came just hours after this consultation process ended. This was
• 0:37
  Speaker 2: a Transport Canada survey. They got eighty seven thousand responses
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: from residents on this proposed expansion. Well, the federal Transport
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: Minister's office has just told us the results of those surveys.
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: Eighty seven percent of those who responded were against it. Now,
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: so we can tell you that the Minister of Transport,
• 0:56
  Speaker 2: Stephen McKinnon, did post on social media with this decision, saying,
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: at this stage I can confirm that our focus lies
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: exclusively on the approved safety enhancements which are currently taking
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: place and are required to maintain safe operations at the airport.
• 1:12
  Speaker 2: Read no expansion. So back in March, the province announced
• 1:16
  Speaker 2: it was moving to expand the airport, even passing a
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: law allowing it to take over some of Toronto's lands
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: in the area. They removed the city from an agreement
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: that governs the airport, taking the city right out of
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: the equation here Toronto Mary Olivia chow Ee even threatening
• 1:33
  Speaker 2: legal action against the province. Well, she learned about the
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: decision when that statement was posted last night, and our
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: camera is caught up with her at an event today
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: in Toronto.
• 1:45
  Speaker 3: I want to thank the Prime Minister and Minister of
• 1:48
  Speaker 3: Transportation in four and six the Brococcus for listening to
• 1:53
  Speaker 3: the voices of the people of Toronto, especially those that
• 1:57
  Speaker 3: love the waterfront. Thank you for listening. Thank you for
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: stopping the expansion. We will continue our partnership together and
• 2:08
  Speaker 3: create a beautiful place, but also mindful of the importance
• 2:13
  Speaker 3: of connecting the city with other parts of the country
• 2:17
  Speaker 3: and the world.
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: And she's now calling on the Ford government to return
• 2:23
  Speaker 2: the city land that they took in order to do
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: this expansion.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: Okay, so speaking of the provincial government, this was their idea.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: They were really pushing it. Now not so much. So
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: what's the response been from them.
• 2:35
  Speaker 2: Yes, so we've heard from the provincial Transport minister as well,
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: pro meet Sin Sarkaria saying in a statement that the
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: province isn't going to drop their plans and we look forward,
• 2:45
  Speaker 2: he says, to continuing to work to advance the expansion
• 2:49
  Speaker 2: of Billy Bishop Airport. There's your maybe, saying the project
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: would contribute up to eight and a half billion dollars
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: to Canada's economy every year, create thousands of jobs, improved connectivity.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: He says, also any plan would protect public spaces, address
• 3:04
  Speaker 2: noise and environmental impacts, and support new housing. So looking
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: at some of the concerns, but he didn't elaborate on
• 3:12
  Speaker 2: next steps how they were going to get there, what
• 3:14
  Speaker 2: that actually means. We have reached out, but we spoke
• 3:17
  Speaker 2: earlier on today as well with one of the advocacy groups,
• 3:21
  Speaker 2: Environmental Defense, that has been really against this whole idea
• 3:24
  Speaker 2: from the beginning. They've been fighting this for months. Then
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: they say that the province is actually very limited in
• 3:30
  Speaker 2: what they can do now. The provincial government doesn't own
• 3:33
  Speaker 2: the airport. The Toronto Port Authority does, of course, it's
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: an agency of the federal government.
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: So there is no.
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: Ability for the provincial government to expand Toronto Island Airport
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: without the consent and support of the family and the
• 3:49
  Speaker 2: Toronto Port Authority, which supported the airport expansion as well.
• 3:53
  Speaker 2: They responded saying that they're going to work with the
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: federal government on the safety improvements that they will be doing,
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: but nothing more than that. We have reached out as
• 4:02
  Speaker 2: well to Porter and Air Canada, who operate out of
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: Billy Bishop for statements to an environmental defense. Tim Gray there,
• 4:10
  Speaker 2: who I spoke with, I said they had a community
• 4:12
  Speaker 2: march and rally that's scheduled for tomorrow. They're not canceling it.
• 4:16
  Speaker 2: They're going ahead with it as a celebration.
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: Okay, we'll be watching for that certainly. Thanks so much, Linda,
• 4:21
  Speaker 1: You're welcome