Reading the headlines, you would think that whether Toronto’s small Island Airport becomes Heathrow-on-the-Harbour is completely up to Premier Ford, and that resistance is futile. But fortunately, in this case, the Premier is not in the pilot’s seat on whether or not the expansion of the Island Airport to accommodate jets ever materializes.

So who’s in the pilot’s seat? It’s Toronto’s federal MPs and the Prime Minister in Ottawa. If the future sees a constant stream of jets inundate Toronto’s waterfront, they will be the ones to blame.

Here are three reasons why:

1. The Tripartite Agreement Prohibits Jets at the Toronto Island Airport

The first reason, often glossed over by jet airport expansion proponents, is the long-standing and binding Tripartite Agreement, which governs Toronto’s Island Airport and explicitly prohibits the use of jets at the airport for any purpose other than emergency medical use.

This Tripartite Agreement is between the federal Transportation minister, the Toronto Port Authority, which is a federal agency, and the City of Toronto. While Premier Ford’s government may have succeeded in usurping Toronto’s membership in the agreement, the prohibition of jets cannot be removed unless the federal government MPs decide to remove it.

2. The Toronto Port Authority is a Federal Agency

The second reason is that it’s the federal government — not the Premier or the provincial government — that has the power to commission an airport expansion proposal in the first place. The Toronto Port Authority (TPA), which owns the Toronto Island Airport, is a federal agency. Seven of the nine TPA board members represent the federal government. By contrast, Ontario and Toronto each appoint only one board member.

The federal government is currently deciding whether to appoint jet expansion supporters or opponents to fill the five vacancies — an absolute majority — on the TPA board. If the federal government appoints pro-jet supporters, the federal government will be to blame for any proposal coming forward from the Toronto Port Authority for airport expansion.

3. Airports are Federal Jurisdiction

The third reason is that airports are exclusively federal jurisdiction. Any proposed changes to an airport’s size, configuration or operation require federal approval, including the impacts on people outside the airport itself. Specifically, it is federal cabinet ministers who would be deciding to approve all the dangers to public safety, the environment, quality of life and public health that an expanded Toronto airport would inevitably impose.

One of the biggest casualties of an expanded Toronto Island Airport would be the cancellation of thousands of desperately needed, affordable “non-market” homes that are already in progress, but would be in the flight path of jets to the airport. Housing development would have to proceed without the tower elements that make affordable units possible. The huge sums of public money invested in unlocking Ookwemin Minising for affordable housing would be squandered.

The only responsible path for Toronto MPs and the federal government is to say, right now, that “we are sticking with the ban on jets at the Island Airport,” and decide to permanently abandon any airport expansion and move on. If they choose to become the proponent of this destructive proposal to tear apart the fabric of Toronto’s waterfront, then they will have to come clean that it is their proposal and will be the ones to blame, and not Premier Ford.

Let’s hope they choose the right flight path.