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<\/p>\nHe said that \u201cat this stage,\u201d the government is exclusively focused on the approved safety upgrades currently taking place at the airport near the downtown Toronto waterfront.<\/p>\n
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Ontario Premier Doug Ford\u2019s government recently passed legislation to take over the city\u2019s spot in a tripartite agreement that governs Billy Bishop airport, joining the federal government and the Toronto Port Authority, an arm\u2019s-length federal agency.<\/p>\n
The law also gave Ontario the power to take over city-owned lands along the adjacent waterfront and Toronto Islands to facilitate an expansion, a move the mayor has called a land grab without consultation.<\/p>\n
Ford has said the airport expansion could increase passenger traffic from two million a year to 10 million. <\/p>\n
A spokesperson for his office did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday night.<\/p>\n
Ontario Transport Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said the province will continue trying to advance an expansion, saying it would add up to $8.5 billion a year to the Canadian economy and create thousands of jobs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs this work continues, we look forward to seeing and anticipate a plan that ensures the project protects public spaces, including the Toronto Islands, addresses potential noise and environmental impacts, expands and improves Little Norway Park, supports new housing opportunities in the area, and delivers lasting benefits for local communities,\u201d he said on social media.<\/p>\n
Mayor Olivia Chow thanked Prime Minister Mark Carney and MacKinnon for \u201clistening to the people of Toronto.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you to everyone who spoke out, shared your voice, and stood up for our community. Your relentless advocacy has made a difference,\u201d she said in a social media post.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow that this expansion is not moving forward, we are calling on the province to return the city\u2019s land.\u201d<\/p>\n
Before Ottawa launched its consultations last month, Carney said he had yet to form an opinion on Ford\u2019s airport expansion plans, adding there were \u201cmany, many issues\u201d that had to be considered.<\/p>\n
The Toronto Port Authority said Friday it has been advised of Ottawa\u2019s focus on the current safety expansion at Billy Bishop airport and will \u201cwork to fulfil this initiative and ensure the needs of the city and region are met for the future.\u201d<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 24, 2026.<\/p>\n
The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He said that \u201cat this stage,\u201d the government is exclusively focused on the approved safety upgrades currently taking…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":824929,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194291],"tags":[879,49,48,2467,2461,2468,2460,2462,2463,44,2464,2465,2466,82,3302],"class_list":["post-824928","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-toronto","tag-breaking-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-central-vancouver-island","tag-nanaimo","tag-nanaimo-breaking-news","tag-nanaimo-news","tag-nanaimo-news-now","tag-nanaimonewsnow","tag-news","tag-oceanside","tag-parksville","tag-qualicum","tag-sports","tag-toronto"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824928","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=824928"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/824928\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/824929"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=824928"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=824928"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=824928"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}