Mark Carney hasn’t yet formed an opinion on the Ford government’s island airport expansion plan
The premier previously insisted the federal government was on board
It would appear that Prime Minister Mark Carney and Premier Doug Ford aren’t on the same page about expanding Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport after all.
Ford had previously claimed that the federal government was on board with his controversial expansion plan.
But speaking to reporters yesterday, Carney clarified that he hadn’t actually reached a conclusion on it. “There’s many, many issues. There’s issues of transportation, there’s issues of economics, but there’s issues of neighbourhoods, quality of life, environmental concerns or issues, parks and other elements,” the prime minister said.
Related: The city and Queen’s Park are fighting over the island airport
When a reporter pointed out that Ford himself claimed Carney was supportive of his plans to permit jets at the island airport, Carney laughed.
“I, personally, have not formed an opinion, just to be absolutely clear, on the airport, in part because those full processes have not been done,” he said.
The Ford government recently passed a bill allowing itself to expropriate land for the expansion.
Mayor Olivia Chow said again this week that she is opposed. “I still have not seen a clear plan, or any plan, from the Toronto Port Authority as to what it is that they are trying to do,” she said. “We should not give land that would benefit American investors and Wall Street investors.”
Carly Lewis is a journalist whose work has appeared in the New York Times and the New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, Wired, Interview Magazine, Pitchfork, Elle, and Maclean’s, where she is a contributing editor. Her work has been recognized by the National Magazine Awards and the Digital Publishing Awards. She reports on city life, culture—including what people do online—politics, art and crime. She received the Dave Greber Freelance Writers Award for “The Murder of Ashley Wadsworth,” an investigative feature about a Canadian teenager who was killed by a man she met on social media, published by Maclean’s.
