The federal government has made its first move toward putting a destructive jet airport on Toronto’s waterfront. On June 8, the federal government released a consultation survey to ask for views on its possible plan to convert the Toronto Island Airport into a much larger jet airport.
What does the release of the survey mean?
The federal government has decided not to immediately stop the proposed jet airport expansion from going ahead. They could do this given that they control the Toronto Port Authority, and the Port Authority owns the Island Airport. Instead, the federal government has taken the first steps to try to convince Toronto residents to accept this misguided proposal.
Is the survey aimed at Toronto residents?
The short answer is no. Here’s why:
The survey is not restricted to people who live in Toronto, and there is no way to know for sure where anyone answering does live because the survey does not require a name or postal code.
There is no mechanism to track whether or not the survey is completed by individuals or bots. This makes it open to abuse by anyone looking to influence the results.
Are the survey questions unbiased?
The wording of several of the questions appears designed to solicit support for the jet airport proposal. These include:
Survey Question: Would you support changes to Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport? This question uses the term “optimizing airport infrastructure” to lead the reader to think that it is not optimal now and needs to be changed or improved in some way. Jet airport expansion would not “optimize” impacts on city residents, businesses or the environment. The question also uses the term “changes to runways” instead of the more accurate term: “major expansion of runways.” Finally, this question assumes that a jet airport would generate more benefits than costs, and would improve connectivity, when there is no information provided to suggest this is true. In fact, there is ample evidence that the opposite is more likely.
Survey Question: What mitigations would help address environmental impacts related to airport growth? The accepted and robust approach to addressing environmental impacts is to follow what is known in scientific literature as the “conservation hierarchy.” This approach starts with avoiding the environmental impacts of a project, then moves to minimizing or mitigating, then restoring and finally offsetting, in order of preference. Skipping the avoidance stage and moving directly to minimization/mitigation suggests the federal government has already decided to proceed with its proposal.
Survey Question: In future airport planning, what factors should be considered in relation to ground transportation and congestion? “Future airport planning” is one way of referring to a proposal that would see the number of people commuting to and from the Island Airport go from 2 million to more than 10 million a year. A more accurate phrasing would be to ask people how they feel about a proposal that would quintuple the number of Island Airport commuters on Toronto’s already gridlocked downtown streets.
Survey Question: What benefits or challenges do you anticipate for the local and regional economy as a result of airport modernization? The use of the term “challenges” here is very odd because the normal term to use when indicating the opposite of benefits is “costs.” This seems designed to get the reader to see the jet airport proposal as “beneficial” — while any “costs” are mere challenges that can be overcome.
What are some of the likely impacts of converting the Toronto Island Airport into a jet airport?
Turning the Island Airport into a massive jet airport would increase air, noise and water pollution, bring debilitating gridlock to Toronto’s waterfront, threaten the Toronto Islands and mainland parks, and cancel thousands of new homes in Toronto’s Port Lands. There is more than enough evidence for the federal government to just say “no” to jets on Toronto’s waterfront.
Source Reference: Environmental Defence - Ottawa Released a Toronto Island Airport Survey – Questions Aren’t What They Seem by Tim Gray (https://environmentaldefence.ca/2026/06/10/the-federal-government-just-released-a-toronto-island-airport-survey-and-the-questions-arent-what-they-seem/)
