Ontario’s housing shortage is often described as one of the province’s most urgent challenges. The provincial government’s rhetoric is to build more homes, faster. But a recent threat by Premier Ford is the latest instance of a recurring pattern where the powers the provincial government created on the pretext of “building more homes” are actually being used to block vital pro-housing reforms and development.
That pattern is now being repeated in central Toronto, with the province threatening to use its new powers to hamstring Ontario’s highest-profile, most centrally-located, and long-awaited housing development: Ookwimin Minising. While the Ontario government has no jurisdiction to propose, let alone approve, a massive new jet airport to replace the Toronto Island airport, Premier Ford has been peddling rumours of such a scheme to justify killing thousands of in-progress homes.
The Potential of the Port Lands
In the southeast corner of downtown Toronto, the Port Lands are undergoing one of the largest urban redevelopment projects in Canada. After decades of planning and billions of dollars in public investment, the area is being transformed from industrial brownfields into complete communities with parks, transit connections, businesses and thousands of homes.
Just the portion that’s already in progress – the island of Ookwemin Minising – is set to deliver roughly 12,000 new homes, including several thousand affordable and non-market homes (which means housing that is owned and rented to the public by co-ops, non-profits, or governments at below “market” prices), in a walkable, transit-oriented neighbourhood. The project has been widely promoted as a model for sustainable and just urban growth because it integrates affordable housing with market-rate housing in a highly desirable, transit-rich, and thus an empowering location, rather than pushing people out of the city.
The problem is that the mere possibility of expanding the Toronto Island Airport to accommodate jets is being exploited by the Premier as an excuse for eliminating thousands of those homes – and likely almost all of the affordable homes – from Ookwemin Minising. Premier Ford has admitted openly that he intends to use his Cabinet’s powers to block key elements of the project because they might prevent or complicate building a jet runway and interfere with airport operations. This would mean losing out on thousands of new homes in one of few remaining sites with redevelopment potential (where we can build upon existing infrastructure) in Toronto’s downtown core – before any airport expansion actually takes place.
Why Not Just Let the Process Play Out?
Merely keeping alive the hope of a new jet runway being approved for Toronto Island Airport will be fatal to the essential affordable housing elements of Ookwemin Minising. Ookwemin Minising is not some speculative proposal set to happen a decade from now: the parkland creation, flood protection, official plan, zoning and key design work is already complete, with occupancy set for just a few years from now. Unless the federal government and its agent, the Toronto Port Authority reject the jet runway scheme quickly, then the Premier’s statements mean that Ookwemin Minising would be built in a much-reduced form that omits the elements that matter. The opportunity – along with millions of dollars invested in unlocking the land – would be wasted. To save the housing, Canada’s federal government must definitively rule out any island airport scheme quickly and not just as the end result of extended consultations or regulatory approvals processes.
A Test of the Federal Government’s Commitment to Housing
As homebuilding in Ontario slips from stagnation to a provincially-engineered collapse, the federal government’s decision will send a key signal about the truthfulness of the federal government’s housing supply rhetoric. If all those promises mean anything at all, the federal government will nip the jet runway fantasy in the bud now by:
- Filling the five vacancies on its Toronto Port Authority’s board with directors openly and unambiguously committed never to propose or support any jet runway on the Toronto Island, and,
- Stating openly and clearly, that neither the federal Transportation Minister, nor the Toronto Port Authority, will ever agree to amend the Tripartite Agreement to allow for jets on the island.
What You Can Do
Toronto MPs have the power to stop this massive expansion of Toronto Island Airport and conversion to a mega jet airport. In fact, they already promised their constituents over a decade ago that they would not allow jets to land on Toronto’s waterfront. You can hold them accountable and make sure they keep their promise. Help save Toronto’s waterfront, stand up for thriving, livable neighbourhoods, and safeguard the affordable housing that our city so desperately needs.
