Roelof-Jan (RJ) Steenstra, the Toronto Port Authority’s president and CEO, says the airport is self-financing.Fred Lum/The Globe and Mail
Federal money could be part of the financing for expansion plans at Billy Bishop airport, the head of the Toronto Port Authority says.
But no cheques have been signed, and many questions remain about how much the project would cost – and whether Ottawa will endorse the plan to lengthen the runway on the Toronto Islands and allow jets in the face of opposition from the city.
In a recent interview with The Globe and Mail, Roelof-Jan (RJ) Steenstra, the port authority’s president and chief executive officer, said the airport, which his arm’s-length federal agency oversees, is self-financing: It raises money to operate and to pay for any improvements via fees it charges to airlines and passengers, as most airports do.
But he also said that federal cash would be welcome as the port authority seeks to build up to 900 metres of artificial peninsulas that would jut out into Lake Ontario, mostly to the west of the site, to accommodate the longer runway required for jet aircraft.
Ontario could seize most of Toronto Islands under proposed legislation, but province says it won’t
“It will be like a clubhouse sandwich. There will be multiple layers of investment that are going to be required,” Mr. Steenstra said. “It could be private; it could be some public funds. It will depend on what programs are available. The federal government is very interested in investing in national programs.”
Provincial cash has not been discussed, he said. However, Ontario Premier Doug Ford has already sought to use his powers to override objections to the expansion from Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow and expropriate the municipality’s airport lands.
Opponents warn that jets and more frequent flights will spoil waterfront parks and the city’s harbour. But Mr. Ford, who has also said he will declare the waterfront airport a “special economic zone” where provincial or municipal laws could be ignored, insists expansion will provide competition for the larger Pearson International Airport and create jobs.
The federal government has yet to publicly declare its support for the project, although Prime Minister Mark Carney has called it an “interesting vision.”
On Friday, Marie-Justine Torres, a spokeswoman for federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon, sent an e-mailed statement that did not directly address a series of questions from The Globe. The queries included whether Ottawa supports the expansion, whether it is considering funding it and whether it approves of Mr. Ford’s expropriation move, which is meant to end the City of Toronto’s control of the airport’s future.
Opinion: Doug Ford’s obsession to expand downtown Toronto airport would be economic vandalism
The statement from Ms. Torres says decisions on the airport require a consensus of the signatories of the 1983 tripartite agreement that governs the facility: the city, the Toronto Port Authority and the federal government. But the statement does not address what happens if Ontario supplants the city as one of the deal’s signatories.
Both Mr. Ford and Mr. Steenstra have asserted that Ottawa, which must approve any lifting of the current ban on commercial jets at Billy Bishop, was on board with the concept.
But several Toronto Liberal MPs have issued cautious statements in recent weeks, pledging that Torontonians would be consulted.
Recreational airplanes are parked at Billy Bishop Airport in Toronto in March.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
On Friday, Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles released an open letter to Mr. Carney, demanding that he quash what she calls “a callous land grab” that threatens the parks and beaches of Toronto Islands, which attract thousands of Torontonians every summer.
She notes that Mr. Ford’s expropriation bill gives his government the discretion to seize almost all of the Toronto Islands, not just areas close to the airport.
Speaking to reporters at a waterfront park, she said failing to block the expansion would be “disastrous” for Mr. Carney and his Toronto-area MPs.
It also remains unclear just how much the proposed airport expansion would cost. The port authority says its plans won’t be ready for months.
But a 2015 report by the consultancy Oliver Wyman, produced for Air Canada, concluded that the expansion price tag at Billy Bishop could be as much as $1-billion.
Accommodating jet planes that are larger than the current turboprops at Billy Bishop, and doubling the facility’s approximately two million annual passengers, would require more than just a longer runway, the report said.
It would mean new terminal buildings, relocating hangars, and even potentially rebuilding the entire runway further south. The decade-old report also said no other airport with Billy Bishop’s passenger volume had undertaken such a massive project.
The Editorial Board: The worst and best and worst of Doug Ford
An expansion of the landmass is already in the works at Billy Bishop, which must add 150-metre safety buffer zones at each end of its runway by next summer to comply with Transport Canada rules.
But that cost was estimated in 2024 at just $64-million and is being financed by a combination of debt and airport improvement fees charged to passengers. The city agreed to extend the facility’s lease for 12 years, from 2033 to 2045, to make the financing possible.
Both Porter Airlines and Air Canada currently fly smaller turboprops from Billy Bishop, and would stand to gain if jets are allowed, as they could handle more passengers and offer more distant destinations. The port authority has said only smaller single-aisle jets that carry around 130 to 150 passengers are under consideration.
The airport’s terminal is owned by Nieuport Aviation, which since 2019 has been controlled by U.S.-based J.P. Morgan Asset Management.
Nieuport bought Billy Bishop’s terminal from Porter in 2015 for more than $700-million.
Lobbyists for Nieuport have been making the case for the airport’s expansion at the federal, provincial and municipal levels.