Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he will force the City of Toronto to give up its share in the island airport so he can expand its runway to allow jets to fly in and out of the downtown core.
The future of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport has been a subject of much debate since Ford began referencing internal polling his government had done about expanding the size of its runway.
As recently as Tuesday morning, Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow suggested she wasn’t in favour of the idea of attracting more jets into downtown.
“I have not seen any concrete plans for an extended airport, so I don’t precisely know what the province might be doing,” she told reporters.
“As for jets, there needs to be discussion so the waterfront is balanced … I don’t support jets, but we shall see as to what is the balance in the waterfront. Jets are noisy.”
Hours later, Ford confirmed he planned to use expropriation to insert his government into the future of Billy Bishop.
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“We will be taking over the airport,” Ford confirmed on Tuesday. “We will be compensating the city for it. Not compensating just for the value but also for any lost revenue — I believe they make $5 million a year, we will compensate them for that.”
Ford said studies would still need to take place to look at the potential impact of noise on the downtown, exactly what jets would be able to use an expanded island airport and how many more passengers it would be able to handle.
“I don’t ever foresee 747s flying into the island airport, but smaller jets,” he explained. “And it’ll be convenient for travellers, especially going around Canada and possibly into the U.S.”
As it stands — before any expropriation takes place — the airport doesn’t fall directly under the premier’s jurisdiction. Instead, it is governed by a tripartite deal between the City of Toronto, Toronto Port Authority and the federal government.
The lease was extended at the end of 2024 by city council in a 17-8 vote following a motion from Chow. She put forward the proposal despite a staff report that advised against extending the agreement before more public consultation.
Ford first mentioned his plans for the airport at an event in February, where he said it was a “gold mine” that must be used more.
“I got to tell you one thing, we got to extend that runway. We have to bring jets in, smaller jets, whatever, until people can hop on there,” the premier previously said.
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