Well, at least I didn't vote for that dork!
Can airport plan fly this time?
Deluce planning regional airline run from island Miller still firmly opposes expanded
use of airport
Feb. 2, 2006. 01:00 AM
Toronto Star
KERRY GILLESPIE AND PAUL MOLONEY
STAFF REPORTERS
Toronto is once again set to have a busy waterfront airport with turboprop service to Canadian and American cities.
Today, Robert Deluce, chief executive of Regional Airline Holdings Inc., will announce details of his plan to buy up to $500 million worth of planes from Toronto's Bombardier plant to run a new regional airline out of the island airport.
"We are confident that the Q400 is the perfect plane to allow our airline to bring substantial economic benefits to the city and contribute to a revitalized Toronto City Centre Airport," Deluce said in a statement.
But Deluce may have to fight city hall every step of the way — just like he did the last time, when he failed to get a bridge to the island airport to make it easier to run an airline.
"I ran on a commitment to ensure that the island airport use was not expanded," Mayor David Miller said yesterday, referring to his campaign promise to kill plans for a bridge to the island airport.
"That's an industrial use and you want waterfront revitalization to succeed, and expanded use doesn't fit," he said.
But the city has limited control over what happens at the airport, which is managed by the Toronto Port Authority, a federal agency.
Miller said he wants Prime Minister-designate Stephen Harper to turn the port authority over to the city.
NDP Leader Jack Layton has also called Harper asking for the same thing, said Olivia Chow, a former Toronto councillor and now an NDP MP.
That's something the city wanted but never got under the federal Liberals.
But it's something that may appeal to Harper, who believes in decentralizing government and "keeping local decisions local," Chow said.
Not everyone at city hall opposes a revitalized island airport, especially since the planes will be built at the Downsview Bombardier plant.
"This announcement means a lot of jobs for Toronto, high-paying — not hamburger-flipping — jobs. We support our aerospace sector very much," said Gloria Lindsay Luby chair of economic development (Ward 4, Etobicoke Centre).
"It's going to be fantastic ... It's an underutilized airport. They're going to make use of an existing asset. There's no reason to think that this isn't a positive step forward for the city of Toronto," said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East).
"I suspect David Miller might use it as fodder for the next election campaign, but that's his decision," Minnan-Wong said.
son to think that this isn't a positive step forward for the city of Toronto," said Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong (Ward 34, Don Valley East).
"I suspect David Miller might use it as fodder for the next election campaign, but that's his decision," Minnan-Wong said.