Contends Airport Is A "Bad Idea"

During its April 16 meeting the Pickering, Ontario City Council approved a resolution calling for public hearings for a proposed airport... while officially maintaining its opposition to one.

Council members Bonnie Littley and Rick Johnson introduced a motion reconfirming the council's support of a public and independent due diligence review of the Greater Toronto Airports Authority's (GTAA) Master Plan for the Federal Lands in Pickering, according to the Durham (Ontario) Daily News.

The resolution urges federal, local and regional governments support an open, public review. It asks the GTAA to evaluate how things such as rising fuel prices and current and future emissions impact potential would affect the business case for Pickering and the future of air transportation in the area.

Council member Jennifer O'Connell said the last time Council stated its opposition to the airport was in 1998.

"Nine years is a long time not to have open public discussion on such an important issue," she said. She thinks its important residents get an opportunity to voice their opinions.

"My personal opinion is that I feel an airport in Pickering would be environmentally devastating and I therefore do not support it," she said. "However I was not elected to represent only my personal opinion, but the opinion of those whom I represent."

She asked Mayor Dave Ryan if he'd consider adding a public airport meeting into the upcoming Town Hall meetings, he said he'd take it under advisement.

Littley said she supports a public meeting but remains opposed to an airport.
"A bad idea 30 years ago is still a bad idea," she said. She said spending money for efforts to help the city sustain itself such as public transit, alternative energy and the agrifood market is more important.

"We need commercial economic growth and that's how you can get it," she said.
Johnson said he's concerned about losing local residents and has been adamantly opposed to the airport for the past 35 years. He said the frozen lands need baseball diamonds not just the belief that a runway might someday be built there.

"We have lost the heart of central Pickering," he said.

Council member David Pickles agree a public consultation is important and said "the key is He it's done properly and with public input," and also thinks the business case for the airport is weak an independent expert should review it.

"They're not doing the work that's necessary to have full discussion of an airport," he said.

Pickles said growth in Pickering is "not strong" and projections for the airport are "too rosy."  A lot more people can go through Toronto Pearson International Airport than what the GTAA actually says, he added.

In the motion, Littley notes the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has estimated high-altitude emissions could have a high warming impact. She said the IPCC has said they don't foresee practical alternatives to kerosene-based fuels currently in use.

FMI: www.cityofpickering.com/, www.ipcc.ch/