A Porter passenger plane takes off from the Billy Bishop Airport runway in Toronto on March 23.Cole Burston/The Globe and Mail
Common cause
Re “The weapon that can reopen the Strait of Hormuz? It’s the economy, stupid” (Report on Business, May 8): While the current regime in Iran is unacceptable, the ongoing debate regarding the status of the Strait of Hormuz may have serious implications for Canada and the Northwest Passage.
The geographical situations of both waterways are similar, as both Iran and Canada argue that their respective straits are internal waters. Although Canada’s assertion is supported by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, the United States and other countries continue to claim the Northwest Passage as an international strait.
Consequently, the Hormuz debate may lead Canada to the difficult conclusion of supporting Iran’s claim in order to assert sovereignty over our own passage.
Ed White Toronto
Do better
Re “Donald Trump is not an aberration. He is America” and “Antisemitism is quantifiably bad in Canada. Are Canadians just going to accept that?” (Opinion, May 2): Irony coats this juxtaposition of headlines.
The former lauds Canada for its “positive multicultural national identity that the world needs today.” Sorry, but as a born-and-bred Canadian who is half-Jewish, I find no comfort in that statement.
Why? Rampant antisemitism in this country makes me sad, angry and scared. Fighting the explosion of antisemitism here since Oct. 7, 2023, cannot only come from the top down.
So, while I applaud recent successes in police detaining and charging attackers of synagogues and Jewish businesses, I will quote from the latter opinion: “Canadians in general have a role, too: a demonstration of the will required for change … what do we want this country to be?”
Bob Young Kingston, Ont.
Tipping point
Re “Canada should back away from carbon capture and storage and focus on infrastructure like pipelines” (Opinion, May 2): Contributor Martha Hall Findlay argues that Canada should postpone the Pathways carbon capture and storage project for two reasons: the severe economic challenges we now face and our low contribution to global carbon emissions. “This is not the time.”
Many Canadians probably agree. Yet our per capita emissions remain among the highest in the world. And the dynamics of time are key to explaining and combatting climate change.
Cumulative per capita emissions created climate change. Many scientists warn that we soon risk breaching tipping points, a moment of no return causing negative feedback loops.
These facts have not changed. Nor has our historical responsibility.
Sanjay Ruparelia Jarislowsky Democracy Chair and professor of politics, Toronto Metropolitan University
Up in the air
Re “Now is the time for a public reckoning on the costs of a Billy Bishop Airport expansion” (May 4): The federal government, as the essential party in the tripartite agreement governing Billy Bishop Airport, should not simply resist expansion: It should announce the airport’s closure and the transformation of its 215 waterfront acres into one of the greatest urban legacy projects this country has produced.
University of Toronto researchers have documented ultrafine particle pollution five times the World Health Organization threshold in surrounding neighbourhoods. City staff warn that airport flight paths could cap Port Lands development at 15 storeys, eliminating tens of thousands of planned housing units. And the Union Pearson Express already connects downtown to Pearson International Airport in 28 minutes.
Denver closed Stapleton. Berlin opened Tempelhof as a park. Hong Kong transformed Kai Tak into a new waterfront district. Each decision was vindicated by history.
Mark Carney has the authority, the public health data and the housing mandate.
This is the moment to finally get it right.
Kevin Dunal Toronto
Ask anybody who’s ever lived near one: Large commercial airports make terrible neighbours.
Why we’d even consider putting one within metres of established homes, schools, recreational facilities, parks and beaches, as would happen with the proposed expansion of Billy Bishop Airport, is beyond me.
John McLeod Toronto
As a downtown resident of Toronto, I am deeply concerned about the proposed expansion of Billy Bishop Airport.
The province spent $30-million to transform a parking lot into what is now Trillium Park. The newly proposed runway would extend out almost to the park and residents like me who walk, run, bike and kayak around it would be inhaling all that additional jet exhaust.
How is this a democracy when this proposal could be approved without residents having their say?
Grant Mayotte Toronto
The Toronto Islands are a critical staging habitat for migratory birds. As Toronto is situated at the convergence of two major migratory flyways, millions of birds migrate through the city each year and more than 300 bird species rest on the islands during migration. Thousands of birds nest there.
Migratory bird populations are in steep decline. Habitat loss is the No. 1 threat to birds. The islands are home to six critical bird habitats including dunes, ponds, marshes, forests, lagoons and wooded edges.
Rather than expand Billy Bishop Airport, the islands should be preserved and safeguarded as an important bird sanctuary. Ontarians can choose where to build or expand an airport, but the migratory flyways of millions of birds cannot change.
They should be respected when habitat-affecting development is being considered.
Mary Burge Toronto
What about the water?
Water in Toronto’s harbour is continually refreshed through the Eastern and Western Gaps. The currents and waves have established a system in balance. A new runway on its sturdy rock foundation would create a new peninsula.
The prevailing lake current comes from the west. It would be deflected by a runway, with possibly less water entering the gap to the harbour. Will there be sufficient fresh water to maintain harbour water renewal? Might the slower current promote more sand deposit in the gap?
These are vital questions to be answered, and they should be satisfied even before studies consider natural life in the harbour, noise or economics.
Lys Laurence Toronto
Drawn in
Re “The creativity, outrage and dangers that define the work of political cartoonists” (Opinion, May 2): I waited in vain for any mention of Canada’s long and illustrious list of scalpel-wielding cartoonists.
To name just a few: the Montreal Gazette’s Terry (Aislin) Mosher, The Globe and Mail’s own Brian Gable, succeeded by David Parkins and Michael de Adder, the Halifax Chronicle-Herald’s Bruce MacKinnon, Calgary’s Vance Rodewalt, who started at the Albertan (later the Sun) and later the Herald, and Serge Chapleau of La Presse.
That’s not to forget past greats such as the Vancouver Sun’s Len Norris and Roy Peterson and the Toronto Star’s Duncan Macpherson.
I’ve always felt Canadian cartoonists were sharper than their American counterparts. There’s an Aislin cartoon in The Hecklers, the 1979 book he co-authored to accompany the titular National Film Board documentary, that would never see the light of day in any U.S. paper.
Steve Mertl Vancouver
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