{"id":107309,"date":"2026-07-28T14:18:45","date_gmt":"2026-07-28T18:18:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=107309"},"modified":"2026-07-28T14:18:45","modified_gmt":"2026-07-28T18:18:45","slug":"toronto-island-airport-expansion-killed-by-fringe-group-ontario-minister-says","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/28\/toronto-island-airport-expansion-killed-by-fringe-group-ontario-minister-says\/","title":{"rendered":"Toronto island airport expansion killed by &#8216;fringe group,&#8217; Ontario minister says"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Liam Casey Ottawa gave in to the demands of a &#8220;fringe group&#8221; when it rejected a pitch to expand Toronto&#8217;s island airport, Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said Tuesday. He said the province was disappointed by the federal government&#8217;s decision to nix Premier Doug Ford&#8217;s proposed expansion of the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to allow jets to land and take off from it. The runway is currently too short for jets. Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon rejected the plan last week after 87 per cent of the 87,000 respondents to a public consultation opposed the idea. Sarkaria said the province was &#8220;disappointed&#8221; by MacKinnon&#8217;s decision. &#8220;We&#8217;ve seen the federal government here listen to a small fringe group in Toronto, but we as the province will continue to push&#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%2F07%2F28%2Ftoronto-island-airport-expansion-killed-by-fringe-group-ontario-minister-says%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Liam Casey Ottawa gave in to the demands of a &#8220;fringe group&#8221; when it rejected a pitch to expand Toronto&#8217;s island airport, Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said Tuesday. He said the province was disappointed by the federal government&#8217;s decision to nix Premier Doug Ford&#8217;s proposed expansion of the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to allow jets to land and take off from it. The runway is currently too short for jets. Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon rejected the plan last week after 87 per cent of the 87,000 respondents to a public consultation opposed the idea. Sarkaria said the province was &#8220;disappointed&#8221; by MacKinnon&#8217;s decision. &#8220;We&#8217;ve seen the federal government here listen to a small fringe group in Toronto, but we as the province will continue to push... <\/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%2F07%2F28%2Ftoronto-island-airport-expansion-killed-by-fringe-group-ontario-minister-says%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-107309","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 v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Toronto island airport expansion killed by &#039;fringe group,&#039; Ontario minister says - 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\/07\/28\/toronto-island-airport-expansion-killed-by-fringe-group-ontario-minister-says\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Toronto island airport expansion killed by &#039;fringe group,&#039; Ontario minister says - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Liam Casey Ottawa gave in to the demands of a &#8220;fringe group&#8221; when it rejected a pitch to expand Toronto&#8217;s island airport, Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said Tuesday. He said the province was disappointed by the federal government&#8217;s decision to nix Premier Doug Ford&#8217;s proposed expansion of the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to allow jets to land and take off from it. The runway is currently too short for jets. Federal Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon rejected the plan last week after 87 per cent of the 87,000 respondents to a public consultation opposed the idea. Sarkaria said the province was &#8220;disappointed&#8221; by MacKinnon&#8217;s decision. &#8220;We&#8217;ve seen the federal government here listen to a small fringe group in Toronto, but we as the province will continue to push\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/28\/toronto-island-airport-expansion-killed-by-fringe-group-ontario-minister-says\/\" \/>\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=\"2026-07-28T18:18:45+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=\"3 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\\\/07\\\/28\\\/toronto-island-airport-expansion-killed-by-fringe-group-ontario-minister-says\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/28\\\/toronto-island-airport-expansion-killed-by-fringe-group-ontario-minister-says\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Toronto island airport expansion killed by &#8216;fringe group,&#8217; 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