{"id":833307,"date":"2026-07-29T08:54:10","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T08:54:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/833307\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T08:54:10","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T08:54:10","slug":"ontario-rethinking-support-for-alto-high-speed-rail-over-billy-bishop-expansion-decision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/833307\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario rethinking support for Alto high-speed rail over Billy Bishop expansion decision"},"content":{"rendered":"

Mayor Chow is calling for the repeal of legislation giving the Ontario government control over part of Toronto’s waterfront lands. Siobhan Morris explains. <\/p>\n

The Doug Ford government is now rethinking its support for a high-speed rail project after the federal government ruled out expanding Billy Bishop Airport, a source has told CTV News.<\/p>\n

The multi-billion-dollar Alto project would connect Quebec City to Toronto and promises to cut travel times between those cities in half. <\/p>\n

The Toronto Star first reported the news.<\/p>\n

Earlier this year,<\/a> Ford and Prime Minister Carney signed the \u201cCanada-Ontario Partnership to Build\u201d agreement, which includes both governments committing to support the planning and advancement of Alto.<\/p>\n

During a news conference in London, Ont., on Tuesday afternoon, Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria vowed to continue pushing for the expansion of the airport despite the federal government\u2019s decision.<\/p>\n

Last Friday, the Carney government halted plans over a potential expansion of the island airport, with Transport Minister Steven McKinnon saying that upgrades would be limited to approved safety enhancements already underway and would not include the extension of the runway. <\/p>\n

Sarkaria said he was \u201cdisappointed\u201d with the federal government\u2019s announcement.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have seen the federal government listen to a small fringe group in Toronto,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe as the province will continue to push forward on a modernization of this airport because it is the right thing to do.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Ottawa grounds Ford\u2019s plan to expand Billy Bishop after massive public backlash Chow asking for the provincial government to return the lands<\/p>\n

Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow, meanwhile, is now calling for the provincial government to repeal Bill 110, the legislation giving it control over a portion of Toronto\u2019s waterfront lands.<\/p>\n

Chow wants Ontario to return the land to the city, which includes several parkland areas, the island itself, and the surrounding island shoreline near Hanlan\u2019s Point.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf the answer is no, why do you want a local park and local beaches? Like it\u2019s always belonged to the City of Toronto,\u201d Chow said in an interview with CTV News Toronto on Tuesday. \u201cWe\u2019re hoping the provincial government will return the land back into the city\u2019s hands.\u201d<\/p>\n

On Monday, Chow introduced an urgent <\/a>motion to City Council appealing to the province.<\/p>\n

Chow noted that the city is looking to continue fixing eroding beaches that are near the area initially slated for development. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe have the Hanlan\u2019s Point Beach. There\u2019s several beaches on the Toronto Islands. We\u2019re about to spend a bit of money because it\u2019s been eroding,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

\"\"Hanlan’s Point Looking north along the beach at Hanlan’s Point Park. (City of Toronto website) <\/p>\n

When asked if the provincial government has any plans to repeal legislation granting it authority over Toronto\u2019s waterfront, Sarkaria said it has \u201cno intention\u201d to do so. <\/p>\n

Sarkaria added that the expansion of Billy Bishop Airport \u201cmakes sense from an economic perspective as well as preparing its future not just for the next four years but for the next 20, 30, 50 years.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAs I have said, we fully support the modernization plan put forward by the Toronto Port Authority,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe urge the federal government to continue to consider that proposal because it is a proposal that makes sense for people that want to travel through air and have different options and it is also about building big projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Toronto Port Authority President and CEO RJ Steenstra, left to right, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria and Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy arrive at an event at Billy Bishop Toronto City A… Toronto Port Authority President and CEO RJ Steenstra, left to right, Ontario Premier Doug Ford, Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Singh Sarkaria and Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy arrive at an event at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport on Monday March 23, 2026. THE CANADIAN PRESS\/Frank Gunn <\/p>\n

Chow has since launched a petition asking residents to petition the province to return the land to the city of Toronto.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Ford government has always said that if you expand the island airport, it can bring in billions of dollars each year into the economy. How do you respond to that? I can\u2019t see how that would work. I would love to see a business plan, a business case,\u201d Chow said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Mayor Chow is calling for the repeal of legislation giving the Ontario government control over part of Toronto’s…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":833308,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[712,49,48,44],"class_list":["post-833307","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-apple-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833307","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=833307"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833307\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/833308"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833307"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833307"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833307"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}