{"id":105271,"date":"2026-05-29T11:48:13","date_gmt":"2026-05-29T15:48:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=105271"},"modified":"2026-05-29T11:48:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T15:48:26","slug":"ontario-to-designate-toronto-island-airport-special-economic-zone-after-land-takeover","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/ontario-to-designate-toronto-island-airport-special-economic-zone-after-land-takeover\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario to designate Toronto island airport special economic zone after land takeover"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Liam Casey Ontario will soon designate Toronto&#8217;s island airport as a so-called special economic zone in an effort to fast track its expansion now that the province has taken over the land, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said Thursday. The province passed into law Thursday a bill that allows it to take over all the land on the Toronto Islands where Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is located. The province has said it will not take over the entirety of the Toronto Islands despite the language in the legislation, and will work with the city to only use the land needed to make the airport bigger. Premier Doug Ford wants to expand the airport, which he calls a &#8220;crown jewel,&#8221; to allow jets to take off and land there. The&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F05%2F29%2Fontario-to-designate-toronto-island-airport-special-economic-zone-after-land-takeover%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Liam Casey Ontario will soon designate Toronto&#8217;s island airport as a so-called special economic zone in an effort to fast track its expansion now that the province has taken over the land, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said Thursday. The province passed into law Thursday a bill that allows it to take over all the land on the Toronto Islands where Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is located. The province has said it will not take over the entirety of the Toronto Islands despite the language in the legislation, and will work with the city to only use the land needed to make the airport bigger. Premier Doug Ford wants to expand the airport, which he calls a &#8220;crown jewel,&#8221; to allow jets to take off and land there. The... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F05%2F29%2Fontario-to-designate-toronto-island-airport-special-economic-zone-after-land-takeover%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-105271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Ontario to designate Toronto island airport special economic zone after land takeover - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/ontario-to-designate-toronto-island-airport-special-economic-zone-after-land-takeover\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Ontario to designate Toronto island airport special economic zone after land takeover - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Liam Casey Ontario will soon designate Toronto&#8217;s island airport as a so-called special economic zone in an effort to fast track its expansion now that the province has taken over the land, Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said Thursday. The province passed into law Thursday a bill that allows it to take over all the land on the Toronto Islands where Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport is located. The province has said it will not take over the entirety of the Toronto Islands despite the language in the legislation, and will work with the city to only use the land needed to make the airport bigger. Premier Doug Ford wants to expand the airport, which he calls a &#8220;crown jewel,&#8221; to allow jets to take off and land there. The\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/29\/ontario-to-designate-toronto-island-airport-special-economic-zone-after-land-takeover\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-29T15:48:13+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-05-29T15:48:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/29\\\/ontario-to-designate-toronto-island-airport-special-economic-zone-after-land-takeover\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/29\\\/ontario-to-designate-toronto-island-airport-special-economic-zone-after-land-takeover\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Ontario to designate Toronto island airport special economic zone after land takeover\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-29T15:48:13+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-05-29T15:48:26+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/29\\\/ontario-to-designate-toronto-island-airport-special-economic-zone-after-land-takeover\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":826,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/29\\\/ontario-to-designate-toronto-island-airport-special-economic-zone-after-land-takeover\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/29\\\/ontario-to-designate-toronto-island-airport-special-economic-zone-after-land-takeover\\\/\",\"name\":\"Ontario to designate Toronto island airport special economic zone after land takeover - 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