Toronto council demands Ford government return land province took for rejected Billy Bishop Airport expansion

Toronto city council voted Wednesday to demand the Ford government give back land it took from the municipality for its planned expansion of Billy Bishop Airport, after the federal government recently rejected the province’s proposal to go ahead with the project.

Council voted 25-1 in favour of the emergency motion, filed Monday by Mayor Olivia Chow, at Wednesday’s council meeting. It calls on the province to repeal the Building Billy Bishop Airport Act, which passed into law in May.

The provisions in that law include removing Toronto from the tripartite agreement governing the island airport and letting the province take over portions of land near it for expansion. The act outlines eight specific parcels of land, which cover nearly the entire island and include parts of the waterfront like Little Norway Park. 

The province previously said it would only take what’s necessary for the expansion. But Chow noted widespread local opposition to those plans when she introduced the motion for debate Wednesday.

“Over the past months, tens of thousands of residents, community leaders, people from all walks of life spoke out about what Toronto’s waterfront has meant to them,” Chow said.

These groups “made it clear that protecting our waterfront matters,” she said. 

Last Friday, Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon announced the federal government would be “exclusively” focused on approved safety upgrades already underway at Billy Bishop, rather than building the airport out to accommodate jets.   

WATCH | Mayor Olivia Chow’s emergency motion on Billy Bishop explained:

‘Return our waterfront’: Toronto mayor says after feds reject Billy Bishop expansion plans

The federal government says it won’t support Premier Doug Ford’s plans to expand Billy Bishop Airport to accommodate jets. As CBC’s Shawn Jeffords explains, the City of Toronto has now filed an urgent motion to get its land back, including Little Norway Park.

In response, Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said Tuesday the federal government had conceded to “fringe groups.” 

“If this is how they’re going to treat bigger projects, I don’t think you’ll get much built,” he said at a news conference in St. Thomas, Ont. 

Sarkaria insisted that the expansion wasn’t dead and promised to move ahead with the plan, although it’s unclear how the province would do that.  

Chow, Bradford exchange blows in lead up to vote 

The lead-up to the vote on Chow’s motion took hours, and included an exchange of blows between Chow and Coun. Brad Bradford, who are both running in the upcoming mayoral election. 

Bradford asked Chow if her office was lobbied about the island airport weeks before the province announced its expansion plan, a question she was asked by reporters Wednesday morning before council met. She didn’t directly answer it either time, but accused Bradford of previously “championing” a runway expansion plan. 

“At some point you need to make your decision clear. Which side are you on?” Chow said. 

“Let’s not confuse the issue, you sound confused,” Bradford clapped back, before repeating his question. 

In response, Chow said neither she nor members of her staff knew what Toronto Port Authority intended to do about the airport. 

The only councillor who voted against Chow’s motion was Stephen Holyday, who represents Etobicoke Centre.