We encourage you to print and distribute this flyer within your communities to share information on proposed expansion. Think: share with neighbours or bring a stack to yoga studio, gym, coffee shop, bookstore, place of worship, farmers’ market, special event, the club, or anywhere you think folks might engage!
Coming soon.
Contact your Federal Member of Parliament
Why? The Federal Toronto Liberal Caucus (23 MPs representing Toronto) has thus far been suspiciously quiet on the topic! The chair of the caucus, Julie Dzerowicz, has at least publicly stated that any changes to the airport require unanimous approval from all Tripartite Agreement partners and that any changes to the airport require unanimous approval
Contact your Member of Provincial Parliament
Why? The Ford government has a majority so could easily pass Bill 110, yet only a handful of Toronto NDP MPPs (Chris Glover, Kristin Wong-Tam, Alexa Gilmour, Jessica Bell) have been raising concerns and asking questions in committee review of the bill. This issue needs to become top of mind for more MPPs ASAP.
Contact your Municipal City Councillor
Why? Mayor Olivia Chow and many city councillors have voiced opposition, but is it loud enough? Can we make it louder?
Sign the petition calling on the federal government to exercise its authority as a signatory in the Tripartite Agreement and block Ford’s power-grab.
Sign NDP MPP Jessica Bell’s petition demanding Premier Ford halt his plan to take over Billy Bishop Airport from the City of Toronto.
NO JETS TO & ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENCE FORM
Use this form to automatically contact your MP to tell them that this is the wrong plan for our waterfront, Toronto Islands and Lake Ontario.
An incomplete list of reasons we think expanding the island airport is a really bad idea:
Our waterfront is a special place, it is a blue and green oasis and the country’s largest tourist attraction (more visitors than Niagara Falls!). We’ve spent the last 25+ years, and billions in public and private investment, revitalizing the waterfront to be an enjoyable, accessible, mixed-use, and environmentally healthy waterfront; a mandate that all three levels of government have committed to and that has been carried out with extensive consultation and therefore public buy-in. Jets will interrupt the balance of uses on the waterfront and ruin the quality of the waterfront by making it a loud, dirty, and congested place.
Toronto Island is one of the city’s biggest parks/green spaces and home to four Blue Flag beaches, numerous Environmentally Sensitive Areas of rare dune and wetland ecology, a residential community land trust, an arts-centre, and Hanlan’s Point: an indispensable gathering space for the queer and trans community and one of the oldest continuously queer spaces in the world. Bill 110 has already expropriated much of the island to be under provincial control; expanding the airport would jeopardize this beloved place.
Billy Bishop is the smallest airport in Canada (only 210 acres) with no room to easily expand. Meanwhile, Pearson International Airport has the capacity to expand and just broke ground in May to expand Terminals 1 & 3, putting it on track to add ~20 million passengers/year by 2030. Plus, the UP Express gets you from downtown to Pearson in 25 minutes. The aviation future of Toronto does not need an expansion of Billy Bishop. Jets belong at Pearson.
An island airport expansion would be hazardous for wildlife, particularly for residential and migratory birds that use the island and the Leslie St. spit to rest when they get to the north side of the lake. Because jet engines pull in a massive volume of air (rather than propellers which just spin), the risk of bird strikes -- which are unsafe for people and birds! -- increases dramatically.
The airport, even in its current form, contributes to existing air quality and noise-related health concerns. Jets will increase the risk of respiratory and cardiovascular illness by emitting pollutants. Given the prevailing winds, these emissions will be carried across the downtown core. The proximity of the airport to high-density residential communities is unprecedented and there are two neighbouring elementary schools and many recreational areas where children will be affected. Plus, jets burn more fuel than propeller planes, releasing more greenhouse gas emissions along our waterfront.
Proposed runway extensions would close off much of the harbour to boat traffic and will reduce the ‘flush’ of the harbour by blocking much of the water flow through the western gap worsening the water quality in the inner harbour.
The proposal is to increase passenger numbers at the airport by 400% (from 2 million/year to 10 million/year) which would add a huge number of additional cars to our already crowded downtown. Imagine approx. 19,000 people accessing Billy Bishop airport everyday, most frequently entering and exiting the airport at rush hour – that is like the Scotiabank Centre emptying twice per day – in an area already clogged with cars and commuters.
This article investigates the lobbying campaign behind efforts to expand Billy Bishop Airport and explains why private-sector pressure around the airport’s future should concern Toronto residents.
This article traces how JP Morgan–linked interests and Nieuport Aviation could benefit from a Billy Bishop Airport takeover or expansion, helping explain the financial stakes behind the proposal.
This reflection, shared at the Pack Animal & Oral Method Town Hall, offers a deeper account of why peace, quiet, public space, and ecological protection matter on the Toronto Islands.
These visual materials show how proposed runway changes could alter the scale, footprint, and public experience of the Toronto Islands and surrounding waterfront.
This resource outlines water quality concerns in Toronto’s Inner Harbour and helps explain how airport expansion could intensify pressure on an already vulnerable aquatic environment.
This study examines air quality in the Bathurst Quay neighbourhood and identifies airport activity as a major source of ultrafine particle pollution linked to serious health impacts.
Website by Nessie Nankivell
Graphic Design by Sonja Katanić