Overview
- The federal government announced Friday that it will not proceed with Ontario’s proposal to expand Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to accommodate jet aircraft, and said it will focus only on already approved runway safety upgrades.
- Transport Canada said more than 87,000 responses to its consultation influenced the decision, with officials pointing to risks to Little Norway Park, Hanlan’s Point Beach, housing plans, noise levels, and environmental harm.
- Ontario’s Progressive Conservative government signalled it will keep pushing for expansion, repeating claims of large economic and job gains and a plan that would extend the runway about 600 metres west.
- Toronto’s mayor, local councillors, and environmental groups celebrated the federal move and called on the province to return city-owned lands taken under recent provincial laws that altered the airport’s governance.
- The decision echoes a 2015 federal refusal to reopen the airport’s tripartite agreement and leaves a jurisdictional dispute between Ottawa and Queen’s Park that could shape future debates over waterfront planning and housing.