The western portion of the Toronto Islands and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport are pictured in 2019. The airport’s lease on the land runs out in 2033.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Toronto’s greatest park has a problem: To get there, you need to trek across the water. This summer, locals have complained about how hard it is to reach Toronto Island Park, about the crammed terminal and the dead ferry. There are schemes for gondolas and a lift bridge.
But the biggest barrier to this crucial public space is Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport.
It is time to ask hard questions of the federal and city governments: Is this the best way to use 85 hectares of the most magnificent public land in the country? Does a boutique airport best serve the public interest, or should this site actually be open to people?
If the airport closes in 2033, when its lease runs out, its lands, ferry and underground pedestrian tunnel could be folded into Toronto Island Park. Together, the two sites would be almost as large as New York’s Central Park and readily accessible year-round.
That would transform Toronto’s image among its people and visitors. The islands are magical: an archipelago of meadows, woodlands and gorgeous white-sand beaches with the best views in the city. They are, despite a contested history, Toronto’s defining public space. Everyone should be able to visit with ease.
The airport is in the way. It occupies the western tip of the islands, where they almost touch the mainland. But this fall is a turning point. Billy Bishop, run by the federal agency PortsToronto, wants to fill in big chunks of the harbour and build so-called “runway end safety areas” that are now required by regulators.
The airport, and the private owners of its passenger terminal, would like permission to do this work by 2027 – and, by the way, to lock in the future of the airport for decades.
As ever, this is a three-way discussion. The city owns part of the airport land, the federal government the rest. Toronto city staff will report back to city council this fall on the expansion plan. Mayor Olivia Chow is punting on the issue for now. “Once there is a proposal to consider, she will look at all the implications and ensure any decision is made through a public process,” the mayor’s spokesperson Arianne Robinson said this week.
PortsToronto, which has basically no reason to exist beyond the airport, is lobbying aggressively. Its chief executive R.J. Steenstra spoke on the issue with alarm to city council in July. Nieuport Aviation, the privately held company that owns the terminal, has been push-polling and conducting social-media marketing. The tagline: “It’s my airport.”
Is it, though? The airport moved just 2 million passengers last year; Toronto Pearson International Airport moved 44.8 million. Billy Bishop is a favourite of business people and politicians who frequently hop to Montreal and Ottawa, trips which in a climate crisis should really be via rail.
But unlike 20 years ago, when this issue was last debated, there is now a reliable transit route to Pearson, the UP Express. Business travellers can get there from the financial district in half an hour if they deign to take the train.
This puts a cloud over claims about the airport’s economic value. Billy Bishop claims 2,000 direct jobs and $2.1-billion in annual “economic output.” If it closed, how much of that activity would move to Pearson? Such questions require rigorous independent study.
Toronto must ask: What would be the economic benefit of transforming the city’s image? An expanded island park would do that. A well-run redesign of the airport lands would introduce cultural programming, good food, and space for performances silhouetted by the city skyline. Even some housing. It would be beautiful, and distinctively Torontonian.
It will be hard to even start this discussion. Nieuport (a pool of institutional investors) put $700-million into the airport in 2015. They and PortsToronto are lining up support from Bay Street and government. Surely the frequent flyers on Parliament Hill and in Queen’s Park are listening.
The city, meanwhile, has just completed a master plan for the island park that barely even mentions the airport lands. City hall has been letting big business obstruct the waterfront since the railways arrived in the 1850s. What else is new?
How about a study by Waterfront Toronto, the three-government agency that is ostensibly in charge of the harbour? A design competition and economic analysis could change the conversation. The airport seems unstoppable, but just across the water lies another, better future.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story stated that the provincial government owns part of the airport's land. The city owns part of the airport land and the federal government, the rest. This version has been updated.