QUOTED: both sides declare victory after Tuesday’s council vote on Porter’s jets
“They wanted jets, and today we clearly heard that council is not ready to say yes to it no matter how much money is spent on lobbying or multimillion-dollar campaigns.”
-NoJetsTO chair Anshul Kapoor, telling reporters why he’s satisfied with yesterday’s vote. After hours of debate, city council decided to go ahead with negotiations that could result in Porter Airlines’ requested jet-friendly changes at the island airport. That’s not an ideal situation for anti-jets activists like Kapoor, but, on the other hand, there are so many conditions attached to the negotiations that the odds seem stacked against Porter.
“To me it looks very positive and we’re very pleased with the support we have. That was a strong vote.”
-Porter CEO Robert Deluce, taking the glass-half-full view of the day’s vote. And it’s true: the vote was unanimous. And so while Porter doesn’t have a guaranteed victory, the company did at least succeed at keeping the issue alive. It will likely be punted to the next term of council, which could result in a better outcome for Porter, depending upon which mayoral candidate wins the 2014 election.
Two days ago Anshul Kapoor was yelling from the rooftops how important it was for council to say a big “NO” to city staff. Fact is, the plans to move forward with expansion of the airport have just been given a unanimous vote of confidence by council. Even opponents of the airport like Kapoor and Vaughn know that there is little that they can do in the face of such strong public opinion in favor of moving forward. No Jets have lost, plain and simple.
Not sure where is the lose for NoJets? The lose is indeed on the Deluce’s part where spending millions on intense lobbing and marketing campaigns didn’t pay off for him at all. In fact the vote was postponed for at least a year. And all of the conditions that are placed on the project render it handicap and far from Deluce’s plans. NoJetsTO hardly invested any funds into this, however the grassroots campaign managed to gather 15,000 signatures from the residents of Toronto. In fact, with the current business model Porter may go bankrupt before some version of the expansion happens, if it will happen at all.
If Porter goes bankrupt, then Air Canada will simply pick up on the idea and fly the same new jets out of the island airport. Positive solutions on the part of “no new idea” politicians such as Vaughn and Chow; would be 1) have the upcoming streetcar tracks along harbourfornt loop south to the island airport to help relieve traffic congestion, and/or 2) have the new Union Pearson Express Train also stop at Billy Bishop, thereby servicing both airports with a high speed transit link.
You are 100% wrong. You will believe anything that the waterfront councilors say. Fact is they lost. They wanted a NO Vote. No Jets wanted a NO vote and didn’t get one. Porter asked council to vote YES, it got that unanimously. Did you even read what council voted for? Porter got everything it wanted. Everyone knows that in order to extend a runway or expand an airport you need to produce proper studies and seek approvals. Nobody ever believed this would move forward absent of those documents. Give your head a shake. This vote finally allows the process to move forward based on those conditions. Not sure where you get your facts about the health of the airline. You obviously listen to what Adam Vaughn has to say. He is all about fear mongering. Word of caution to you sir: Adam Vaughn is an opportunist, a showman, shows no leadership, makes the most preposterous assertions, and blames his own shortcomings on others.
Steeltown, you, Porter and the Deputy Mayor can spin city council’s decision any way you like. But council did say a BIG FAT NO to expansion at the Island Airport. The only YES is continue with the needed studies so that further discussions can take place. Dream on.