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<\/p>\nPremier Doug Ford\u2019s plan to significantly redevelop Toronto\u2019s waterfront will have \u201csubstantial implications\u201d on gridlock, transit congestion and could lead to the degradation of the water quality in the harbour, a city official told a Queen\u2019s Park committee on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
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Ford has grand plans for Toronto\u2019s waterfront.<\/p>\n
Those include a redeveloped Ontario Place, currently under construction, a possible new island to hold a massive convention centre and proposed legislation that would see the province take over the city\u2019s role in Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport so it can be expanded.<\/p>\n
\u201cServicing an airport with passenger volumes approaching 10 million annual travellers, which is a five-fold increase from current levels, would have substantial implications for downtown transportation networks and congestion,\u201d said Annely Zonena, the director of Waterfront Secretariat, a city agency that leads revitalization of the area, at a committee hearing at Queen\u2019s Park.<\/p>\n
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The comments came at a committee hearing on Bill 110, which was introduced in late April. The bill, if passed, would allow the province to take Toronto\u2019s spot in a tripartite agreement that governs the land, an accord that is currently between the city, the federal government and the Toronto Port Authority, which is a federal agency.<\/p>\n
The Port Authority supports the expansion, while the federal government has been noncommital publicly. But Ford has said the federal government and Prime Minister Mark Carney are on board with its expansion plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re going to work with us,\u201d provincial Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said of the federal government.<\/p>\n
The Toronto Islands currently see about two million visitors a year and Ford has said they expect about six million visitors a year to the new Ontario Place, which will be home to a massive private spa, a new science centre and a concert venue.<\/p>\n
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There are also sporting events that could see about 40,000 fans at Rogers Centre to watch the Blue Jays or about 20,000 to watch the Maple Leafs and Raptors, Zonena noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe cumulative impact of these attractions drives trips in all modes,\u201d Zonena said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIncreasing the airport\u2019s trip generations for travellers and employees without proper transportation planning and transit investment will limit the success of these destinations, people\u2019s ability to get to them, enjoy them, and their desire to return.\u201d<\/p>\n
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She also said care must be taken when redesigning the airport, which would be expanded with infill.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn particular, the western gap, just north of the airport lands, is how water circulates into Toronto\u2019s inner harbour,\u201d Zonena said.<\/p>\n
\u201cImpacts of constraining this waterway could result in severe degradation of the water in the harbour, exacerbating the impact of stormwater and combined sewer run-off.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford is pushing for an expansion of the airport that would allow jets to land and take off with a goal to increase service to 10 million passengers per year, up from two million a year.<\/p>\n
Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow has called the province\u2019s move a land grab without consultation.<\/p>\n
The committee heard the province does not have a business plan nor has it conducted any health or environmental studies on its expansion plans.<\/p>\n
Sarkaria, who sparred at committee with opposition New Democrats and Liberals, called the airport expansion a nation-building project that will boost the economy and provide more choice to passengers.<\/p>\n
\u201cAn expanded Billy Bishop will help meet rising demand, relieve the pressure on Pearson, increase competition, give travellers more choice and create good paying jobs,\u201d Sarkaria said.<\/p>\n
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He chastised several opposition politicos for being \u201cridiculous,\u201d including a suggestion by New Democrat Chris Glover who warned of possible bird strikes and that jets would land within 200 metres of an elementary school.<\/p>\n
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\u201cTo suggest that safety wouldn\u2019t be front and centre is kind of ridiculous,\u201d Sarkaria said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think we should move away from the sensationalization in comments like that because Billy Bishop moves over two million people every single year and a lot of people rely on that airport and it\u2019s done so in a very safe manner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sarkaria said the province will provide \u201cfair market value\u201d for the land it takes from the city and any lost revenue. The province will not invest any other money in the airport\u2019s expansion, he said. The expansion would be self-funded privately, he said.<\/p>\n
Sarkaria said they\u2019ve heard from \u201ccountless\u201d individuals who want the airport turned into a park.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis just cannot happen,\u201d he said. \u201cWe have to realize its full potential, it\u2019s an underutilized asset of this city and this country and this province and that is why we are moving forward on a plan to build this expansion.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ford has called Billy Bishop a \u201ccrown jewel\u201d and said he intends to designate the airport a so-called \u201cspecial economic zone,\u201d a law passed last year that allows cabinet to sidestep any and all provincial and municipal laws in a given area.<\/p>\n
The province has not yet formalized that designation and neither Sarkaria nor Ford have said which, if any, laws would be suspended in order to build the expansion.<\/p>\n
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Glover said the lack of information about the plans for the airport concerning.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe government has not looked at the cost-benefit of expanding this airport and this is really frightening because that\u2019s exactly what they did at Ontario Place,\u201d Glover said.<\/p>\n
One northern hospital told the committee Tuesday that an expanded airport and more flights would help bring doctors in from southern Ontario. Hope Air, another health organization, said more flights would help more patients from all over Ontario to receive specialized treatment in Toronto.<\/p>\n
Clean Indoor Air Toronto warned of increasing pollution from ultrafine particles introduced into the air from jet fuel and jet oil.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Premier Doug Ford\u2019s plan to significantly redevelop Toronto\u2019s waterfront will have \u201csubstantial implications\u201d on gridlock, transit congestion and…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":680707,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[225223,49,48,13404,714,3302,123294],"class_list":["post-680706","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-billy-bishop-airport","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-ontario-politics","tag-politics","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680706","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=680706"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/680706\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/680707"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=680706"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=680706"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=680706"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}