The legislation that contains plans for the provincial takeover of Billy Bishop Airport is in committee at Queens Park this week as the Ford government continues its push to expand the runway at the island facility and allow jets to operate from it.
The Building Billy Bishop Airport Act, 2026 is in its second reading and is currently being considered by the Standing Committee on Heritage, Infrastructure and Cultural Policy.
During the committee meeting on Tuesday, NDP MPP for Spadina-Fort York Chris Glover locked horns with Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria when he asked for proof of the government’s claim that the expansion will lead to massive economic benefits for Toronto, to the tune of $8.5 billion. This will partly be fueled, they say, by increasing the number of passengers served from the current two million to 10 million per year.
In a tense exchange, Glover asked Sarkaria to answer with a “yes or no” whether a business case was done for the expansion of Billy Bishop to allow jets.
Sarkaria began his response by saying the Toronto Port Authority (TPA) has led numerous reports on the process and mentioned the federal government’s investment in a preclearance facility at the airport for United States-bound travellers.
Glover interrupted Sarkaria saying, “I’ll take that as a ‘no’ because I didn’t hear ‘yes there’s a business case.’”
“You can’t put words into my mouth but I am going to continue to tell you that [the Port Authority] continue to do this and they continue [to be] very transparent on their plans moving forward,” said Sarkaria.
Glover spoke over him and reclaimed his time to move on to his next question about whether Sarkaria could confirm that the federal government was on board with the expansion plans as Premier Doug Ford has claimed and if so, when those conversations began.
Sarkaria responded by saying the conversations between provincial and federal governments about the issue have been ongoing and they will continue to work together moving forward.
Outside the committee room Glover told reporters he’s not convinced the Ford government has done an adequate analysis of the impact of the airport expansion or the purported economic boost it is supposed to bring.
“We confirmed that there is no business case for this. The government has not looked at the cost benefits of expanding this airport and this is really frightening because that’s exactly what they did at Ontario Place – they leaped into this Ontario Place deal and then it ended up costing taxpayers $2.2 billion,” he said.
Sarkaria, for his part, said the consultation work that the Toronto Port Authority is doing is an ongoing process, supported by the Province and it will eventually be made public.
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If the bill is passed, the province will take over the City of Toronto’s role in the tripartite agreement between the City, Toronto Port Authority and the federal government that governs the airport.
It will also expropriate city-owned lands at the airport, which includes one-third of Little Norway Park alongside Eireann Quay. The Province has listed seven other properties near the airport slated to be expropriated which currently includes all of the Toronto Islands land.
Sarkaria has clarified that the park will remain a park and not be paved into a parking lot as Chow has claimed. He also said the province will not necessarily be expropriating all the land listed in the legislation, saying it’s common procedure to list all the parcels of land that are of interest in a bill.
In the coming months, a number of surveys will be conducted and if it is determined that some properties or portions of land listed in the legislation are not needed, they will be released.
Mayor Olivia Chow has called the move a “power grab” and “land grab” by the Province as called for them to withdraw the bill.
Once the committee process wraps up, it is expected the legislation will go to a vote when the house returns next week.