Ford says province will make Billy Bishop Airport ‘special economic zone’ as it eyes expansion to allow jets

Premier Doug Ford says his government plans to give Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport special designation that would allow the province to bypass municipal and provincial laws. This announcement comes as the province continues its push to bring jets downtown, despite concerns over noise and environmental impacts.

Ford said earlier this month his government plans to take over the City of Toronto’s stake in the island airport. On Monday, he told reporters at a news conference at Billy Bishop that his government would soon introduce legislation for the takeover, using a controversial new law known as Bill 5 to designate the airport a “special economic zone.”

The law, passed last year, lets cabinet exempt companies or projects from having to comply with any provincial law, provincial regulation or municipal bylaw.

Ford had previously said he intended to designate the Ring of Fire as one of those zones to push mining development in the mineral-rich region. It drew pushback from First Nations communities in the area, and Ford said this month the province is no longer looking to use Bill 5 there.

Billy Bishop airport is currently governed by an agreement between the City of Toronto, Transport Canada, and Toronto Port Authority. The city owns about 20 per cent of the land where the airport sits, according to the city’s website.

Ford said the province was taking over the city-owned land because “lefties” on city council don’t want to modernize or grow the airport. Ford said the city will be compensated for the value of the airport and for any lost annual revenue it brought in.

Ford repeated arguments he’s made this month that bringing jets to Billy Bishop would also bring jobs and economic benefits to the airport and surrounding region. The current agreement doesn’t outright ban larger jets, but the size of the runway and noise-reduction standards mean they don’t fly in or out of Billy Bishop. 

NoJetsTO, a citizen-led coalition dedicated to preserving Toronto’s mixed-use waterfront, released a statement Monday condemning Ford’s plan and calling for it to be abandoned.

“Premier Ford has stripped all of our environmental rights and protections from the island airport on our waterfront as he tries to ram jets down our throat,” said NoJetsTO chair Norm Di Pasquale in the statement. “It’s our waterfront and we deserve to be consulted and have our environmental rights considered as part of any airport expansion discussion.”