Jets at the island airport, and who owns the waterfront now

Billy Bishop is a short runway on an island a few hundred metres off the foot of Bathurst Street, and the argument over it is older than most of the condominiums that now look down on it.

This year it changed shape. In May the province passed legislation to take Toronto’s place in the tripartite agreement that governs the airport, the deal between the city, the federal government and the port authority that bans jets and a longer runway, and to take over the city-owned lands on the adjacent waterfront and the Toronto Islands with it. The plan behind the takeover would extend the runway to nearly two kilometres, double the airport’s capacity and let a Boeing 737 land downtown.

In July Ottawa said no. More than 87,000 people answered Transport Canada’s consultation and the large majority opposed the expansion; the federal transport minister said the government’s focus was the approved safety work and nothing else. The Premier has called the island’s residents squatters and doubled down. The mayor has filed an urgent motion demanding the province return the waterfront. Ottawa, for its part, has declined to rule out jets forever.

So the runway is not getting longer, for now, and the province still holds the land it took in order to lengthen it. That is the state of play, and it is why a question about an airport is also a question about who owns Toronto’s waterfront.

Sources: CBC, Ottawa will not support the expansion · CP24, the plans halted · CBC, the mayor’s motion to return the waterfront · The Globe and Mail, Ottawa will not rule out jets · CP24, the Premier doubles down