{"id":824293,"date":"2026-07-25T01:42:14","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T01:42:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/824293\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T01:42:14","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T01:42:14","slug":"federal-government-declines-to-allow-jets-at-billy-bishop-airport-at-this-stage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/824293\/","title":{"rendered":"Federal government declines to allow jets at Billy Bishop airport \u2018at this stage\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

Open this photo in gallery:<\/a><\/p>\n

A Porter passenger plane takes off from Billy Bishop airport in Toronto on March 23.Cole Burston\/The Globe and Mail<\/p>\n

The federal government has rejected Ontario\u2019s plans to allow jets at Billy Bishop airport on the downtown Toronto waterfront, delivering a major blow to Ontario Premier Doug Ford\u2019s agenda. <\/p>\n

Transport Minister Steve MacKinnon said in a statement Friday that the expansion plans will not go ahead at this stage.<\/p>\n

Federal consultations on the jets concluded Friday and an overwhelming majority of the 87,000 responses came from people in Toronto who said they did not want the expansion to go forward, according to a senior government source.<\/p>\n

The Globe and Mail is not naming the source as they were not authorized to speak publicly about the plans.<\/p>\n

The decision is separate from the airport expansion already under way.<\/p>\n

Just last year, Toronto agreed to allow the expansion of the airport\u2019s runway buffer areas, as required by new Transport Canada rules.<\/p>\n

Editorial: Toronto\u2019s island airport should be allowed to grow<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. MacKinnon said in a statement late Friday that the safety expansion is the only thing currently on Ottawa\u2019s agenda.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this stage, I can confirm that our focus lies exclusively on the approved safety enhancements, which are currently taking place, and are required to maintain safe operations at the airport. They are expected to be completed in mid-2027,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cToronto voices will shape any future plans for Billy Bishop Airport. Through this public consultation, we have listened to feedback on a range of issues, including transportation, economics, environmental protection, noise, housing and quality of life.\u201d The government, he said, will always work with its partners to study the region\u2019s connectivity needs and protect the interests of local residents.<\/p>\n

\u201cHowever, we will not pursue any plans that infringe on treasured public spaces like Little Norway Park or Hanlan\u2019s Point Beach, result in elevated noise, have significant environmental impacts or hinder Toronto\u2019s ability to build much-needed housing.\u201d<\/p>\n

George Fallis: The benefits of expanding Billy Bishop airport are modest and the costs enormous<\/a><\/p>\n

Mr. Ford\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday night. A provincial government source said Ontario believes that Ottawa is not formally closing the door to jet expansion, by using the term \u201cat this stage.\u201d The Globe is not naming the provincial source as they are not authorized to speak about internal discussions.<\/p>\n

The Ontario Premier has made the expansion of Billy Bishop one of the top priorities of his government. The province passed a law to take over the city of Toronto\u2019s stake in a tripartite agreement that also includes the federal government and the Toronto Port Authority, a federal agency.<\/p>\n

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, who has long been opposed to jets at the island airport, thanked Prime Minister Mark Carney and Mr. MacKinnon for \u201clistening to the people of Toronto,\u201d as well as those in the community who spoke out against the plan.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour relentless advocacy has made a difference,\u201d she said on X late Friday.<\/p>\n

Ms. Chow said the province should return the land it expropriated from Toronto to pursue its airport expansion plans.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow that this expansion is not moving forward, we are calling on the province to return the city\u2019s land. Together, we can continue working to build a waterfront for future generations, with new parks, housing and more,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

Mr. Ford has previously said that Mr. Carney is on board with his plan. The Prime Minister has said that it is an \u201cinteresting vision,\u201d but did not formally endorse it, and last month said he has not formed an opinion on the proposal.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Open this photo in gallery: A Porter passenger plane takes off from Billy Bishop airport in Toronto on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714171,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[901,888,902,879,877,903,49,48,876,895,896,891,878,875,46,549,295,894,887,914,880,881,893,889,890,884,904,885,909,910,44,912,907,911,905,908,882,898,899,714,897,906,865,61,900,892,886,883,913],"class_list":["post-824293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-alberta","tag-arts-news","tag-bc","tag-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news-video","tag-british-columbia","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-canada-news","tag-canada-sports","tag-canada-sports-news","tag-canada-trafficcanada-weather","tag-canadian-breaking-news","tag-canadian-news","tag-economy","tag-education","tag-environment","tag-federal-government","tag-foreign-news","tag-globe-and-mail","tag-globe-and-mail-breaking-news","tag-globe-and-mail-canada-news","tag-government","tag-life-news","tag-lifestyle","tag-local-news","tag-manitoba","tag-national-news","tag-new-brunswick","tag-newfoundland-and-labrador","tag-news","tag-northwest-territories","tag-nova-scotia","tag-nunavut","tag-ontario","tag-pei","tag-photos","tag-political-news","tag-political-opinion","tag-politics","tag-politics-news","tag-quebec","tag-sports-news","tag-technology","tag-travel","tag-trudeau","tag-us-news","tag-world-news","tag-yukon"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824293","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=824293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}