The Bulletin is Downtown Toronto's Best Read Community Newspaper

Volume IX No. VIII

Wednesday, May 22, 2013

News Index


	Top Stories
	Local News
	Frank Touby
	Michael Comstock
	Casino
	Federal Politics
	Provincial Politics
	Port Authority and Airport
	City Politics
	Editorial
	Restaurant Reviews
	Columns & Views
	Arts & Life
	St. Lawrence Market
	Police / G20 Before and After
	Bruce Bell
	Letters to the Editor
	Inspiration & Motivation
	Downtown Seen
	Local Business
	Local Sports
	Film Reviews
	Conspiracies: Theories, Facts, Paranoia

Calendar

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Letter to the Editor

Port Authority and Airport

How Safe is an Airport Surrounded by Water and Birds?

The wisdom of locating a busy commercial airport on Toronto’s waterfront is questioned once again by these recent incidents:Tuesday, May 14, 2013, a Porter aircraft hit a bird on take-off at the Island Airport and returned to have it checked out. Fortunately, no damage, and no injuries: see this CAD... Full Story

Robert Deluce wants our Waterfront for his jets

Jets are banned from the Waterfront for good reason – they belong at Pearson, not in the middle of our City’s greatest asset – our waterfront, and the Toronto Island Park. Jets make noise. Robert Deluce has dubbed his jets “whisper jets”, but has provided no noise data. Even their manufacturer makes... Full Story

Porter violates airport deal even without jets

The Toronto Port Authority (TPA) on April 17, 2013 is quoted in the Financial Post section of National Post as saying it “believes the CS100 is the only jet-powered aircraft that meets the noise restrictions at the airport.”The TPA’s February 2009 PowerPoint admits that even the Q400 (flown by Porte... Full Story

Port Authority described as deadbeats

On Monday a report was circulated to City Councillors on the issue of the Payment In Lieu of Taxes (PILT) arrears owed to the city by the Toronto Port Authority (TPA) and will be considered by the City’s Government Management Committee.This is the background to that dispute:The TPA has long been res... Full Story

Is Porter Air breaching ad standards?

Is Porter getting so desperate that it feels forced to breach the Code of Advertising Standards? Dec. 5, 2012 brought news of Porter’s third consecutive month of seriously declining sales.Now we discover Porter’s misled readers when it advertised “last chance this year to save up to 50%” last Septem... Full Story

Porter Air is likely failing

For the third month in a row, Porter Air at the Island airport has reported significantly lower sales. November sales are down 30% from their August peak, and were 12% lower than last November.In 2011, sales dropped just 4% from August to November, reflecting seasonal variations. Sales (in revenue p... Full Story

'Island airport a liability not a benefit'

The Toronto Port Authority has released a study of what it considers to be economic benefits it alleges flow from its drastic expansion of the Island Airport. The community group CommunityAIR has these initial reactions: The report claims the airport has generated $200 million in direct gross domest... Full Story

Port Authority claims Island airport is a boon

Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport Generates Nearly $2 Billion for the Toronto Area Economy'Pedestrian Tunnel to Enhance Airport's Remarkable Success'TORONTO, Nov. 9, 2012 /CNW/ - Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport (YTZ) is a major economic engine for the Greater Toronto Area, generating $1.9 billion ... Full Story

Might Porter Air’s business crash?

For the second month in a row, Porter has reported significantly lower sales. October’s sales were 7.5% lower than last year’s.Sales (in revenue passenger miles) dropped from a high of 99.1 million passenger miles in August to 77.2 in September, and to 74.2 in October – a drop over the two mon... Full Story

Port authority, school board held accountable for Bathurst Quay crossing

The Toronto Port Authority (TPA) and the Toronto District School Board (TDSB) continue to be at odds with parents from the Bathurst Quay and extended Harbourfront community over dangers school children face at the corner of Queens Quay and Eireann Quay.More than 50 area residents voiced their ongoin... Full Story

Thanks Island airport for one good night's sleep

It's another noisy day, living by the island airport, and I could complain, but I won't, at least not today. Besides, it would consume half my day to complain every time island airport noise invades my home. Actually, I'd like to thank you. It was quiet last night. We didn't hear any beeping trucks,... Full Story

Island airport potty trains taxi drivers

Toronto Port Authority has barred taxi drivers from using their washroom facilities as of July 20. A series of bulletins issued by Antonella Tarantino, Ground Services Manager, alleges that taxi drivers dirty the washroom. Tarantino's July 16 bulletin says, "…washroom facilities have b... Full Story

Porkers hit dry ground on lake tunnel scheme

City of Toronto staff have slammed the Toronto Port Authority’s (TPA) proposal to fill in part of Toronto’s harbour.The report is in response to an environmental assessment screening carried out by the TPA (but not yet posted on the TPA’s website).Points raised in the report include these:• Parks... Full Story

Porter Air’s tunnel comes out of your pocket

The tunnel to Toronto Island airport to replace the efficient ferry that takes moments to cross the gap from the mainland is a growing expense to the Canadian and Toronto public. Skyrocketing costs: The tunnel that was originally projected by the Toronto Port Authority to cost as little as ... Full Story

Toronto Port Authority threatens nearby Lake Ontario water quality

Toronto Port Authority (TPA), an independent federal government agency, has approved the construction of a pedestrian tunnel from the mainland to the Island airport under the Western Gap of Toronto Harbour. The construction is already underway. In May of this year the TPA announced that they... Full Story

Great Lakes are being drained

Doing nothing about the dramatic lowering of Great Lakes water levels is not an option, says Paul Cowley, President of the Federation of Tiny Township Shoreline Associations [FoTTSA] “We can slow the outflow," Cowley said, decrying the do-nothing solutions offered by the International Joint Com... Full Story

Deadbeat port authority must pay Toronto

In a decision released on Friday, the Supreme Court of Canada has once again rapped the Federal Government for its agencies’ practice of refusing to pay their fair share of property taxes. This decision has direct impact on Toronto’s Port Authority, which has refused to pay in excess of $49... Full Story

Are jets next at Island airport?

Tonight, June 14, the Toronto Port Authority will attempt to defend its plan to dump the dirt from its $82.5M pedestrian tunnel construction project into Toronto’s harbour.The public meeting to air concerns about this is at 7 p.m. at Radisson Admiral Hotel, Salon A49 Queen's Quay West.Here’s the TPA... Full Story

CommunityAIR claims victory over Island airport

A flurry of activity over the past two weeks has resulted in Toronto and East York Community Council May 13, 2012 adopting significant measures to address dangerous traffic volumes caused by the expanding Island airport.We’ve won a significant victory. It took the combined resources of angry parents... Full Story

Allegations Port Authority jeopardizes children

The CEO of the Toronto Port Authority (TPA), Geoff Wilson, came under increasing attack at a March public meeting, primarily from parents children attending two local schools about the only access road to the Island Airport, and the construction site for its ridiculously expensive $82.5M tunnel.The ... Full Story

Port Authority says city bylaw wasn't violated

Construction personnel and trucks started arriving around 6:15am, and work started at 7:00am, the prescribed time. Tomorrow morning they will be resuming work at 9am, also the prescribed time. That means that there was no “sneak attack gambit at 4am.” This also invalidates the writer's claim that r... Full Story

Port Authority crews blocked by residents

In a second victory for Toronto’s waterfront communities during the week, residents and supporters blocked access to the construction site for the Toronto Port Authority’s (TPA) $82.5 Island Airport tunnel Mar. 23.After a 4-hour standoff in front of an asphalt truck, protesters cheered as the truck ... Full Story

Port Authority 'outlaws' break city bylaw to start digging

On Mar. 20, the City’s Community Council deferred site plan approval for the Toronto Port Authority’s (TPA) parking lot and staging area for construction of its $82.5 million tunnel to the Island Airport.Site plan approval is required by law for construction of the parking lot and staging area to co... Full Story

Harper curses Oshawa with a port authority

NEWS ITEM: Harper gov't designates a port authority for OshawaPort Authorities are supposed to be for ports of that are "of strategic significance to Canada’s trade", according to the Canada Marine Act.Toronto's never met that test – in 2009, it ranked 14th, after Trois-Rivieres, handling ... Full Story

No free speech at Porter Air boss' speech

As opponents of the continuing expansion of the Island airport, CommunityAIR members and I as chair of the organization leafleted Porter Airlines CEO Robert Deluce’s speech at the Empire Club Jan.17.We thought it important that attendees get a more complete understanding of the impact Island Airport... Full Story

Stephen Harper-Toronto Port Authority scandal

In an appalling misuse of public resources, for no public benefit, the Toronto Port Authority, a Harper Government agency, announced construction is to start in February on a pedestrian tunnel to the Island airport.“If they have access to that kind of money, we insist that the TPA pay the city the l... Full Story

Porter Air buying praise from Globe & Star?

We’ve all read the Globe’s and Star’s so-puffy pieces on the occasion of Porter’s fifth anniversary.Most readers would conclude that these were, in part, the newspapers’ expression of sincere appreciation for the millions of dollars of ad revenue Porter has given to them over those years.What else a... Full Story

Super-Glue airport-expansion fighter arrives

Dan Glass — most famous as the UK climate activist who super-glued himself to British PM Gordon Brown — has recently been catapulted into the spotlight after being barred from speaking in the US by the FBI. Glass, with many others, was central to the UK’s impressively successful campaign to halt a p... Full Story

Porter belongs at Pearson Airport

There’s no question the Island airport has long been an anachronism in its current incarnation as an elegant monopoly by a single taxpayer-supported passenger service. Toronto has endured the blight of increased commercial air traffic amidst a residential- and tourism-oriented waterfront, perhaps da... Full Story

TPA Plans to Demolish or Dismantle National Historic Site

In the latest Island Airport outrage, the Toronto Port Authority plans to dismantle or demolish the historic Airport Terminal Building.This terminal, designated a National Historic Site, is an impediment to construction of the TPA’s wildly expensive and poorly-justified pedestrian tunnel.“Not conten... Full Story

Did TPA Mislead U.S. Government on Porter Application?

Community AIR has objected to Porter’s outstanding application for an extension of its right to fly into the United States on the grounds that Porter’s original application was founded upon an apparently misleading statement by (then) Toronto Port Authority CEO Lisa Raitt. Porter’s right to fly into... Full Story

Another outrage from Toronto Port Authority

We’ve just been advised that the TPA has negotiated another “Master Agreement” with the City of Toronto.Contrary to Mayor Ford’s insistence that all dealings with City property be transparent and follow standard tendering procedures, this deal gives the TPA a lease of City property near the silos on... Full Story

Island airport taxi drivers drive her nuts

She writes to the city's enforcement officer:This morning before 0630hr the honking picked up where it left off last night at 2230hr, just as I was getting to sleep. I am sorry I do not have a license plate number, since I was asleep - this explains why a ban on honking makes a bit more sense then e... Full Story

'Island airport violates noise agreement'

As the discussion of airport noise and community noise standards continues to evolve, we have found that Toronto Island Airport usually operates at acceptable noise levelsduring the day, but Island Airport Noise is excessive before 7am and after 10 pm. The Island Airport Tripartite Agreement states ... Full Story

Port Authority's tunnel scam goes public

Preface by Frank Touby:The Toronto Port Authority (TPA) is an expensive taxpayer-funded boondoggle invented by defeated Liberal MP Dennis Mills. The instant the Harper Tories got in office their original transport minister, Loose Larry Cannon, sutured his snout to that trough on behalf of his party.... Full Story

'Deadbeat' Port Authority 'owes city $43 million'

Dear Mayor Ford:With our City’s current serious financial challenges, we write to encourage you to apply your considerable talent for getting things done, to collect the money owing to the City for property taxes by the Toronto Port Authority.By our calculations (see below), the amount owing is appr... Full Story

Harper's Island airport tunnel boondoggle may fly

On Feb. 10, a letter from Transport Canada addressed to CommunityAIR (CAIR) and other waterfront stakeholders advised:“I am writing to inform you that the Government of Canada has initiated a process to amend the current Toronto Port Authority Regulations to expressly allow for the construction of ... Full Story

Proposed Island airport tunnel doubles capacity

The Dec. 31, 2010 “community consultation” meeting on the Toronto Port Authority’s Environmental Assessment for the proposed tunnel revealed some hard numbers: The larger of the two existing ferries has a capacity of 196 passengers. As it makes four trips an hour, that gives a maximum number of pass... Full Story

The TPA Open House - through the eyes of an attendee

It was a tour de force! Brian Iler and Adam Vaughan were spectacular. Ken Lundy looked dazed and the representatives from Dillon appeared gobsmacked. All those pretty posters on display and all the people milling saying, "this is a meeting? This is a consultation? This is a show!" Br... Full Story

Port Authority tries to trick the public: CommunityAIR

The Toronto Port Authority’s just announced Tunnel Environmental Assessment is fundamentally flawed, says CommunityAIR Chair Brian Iler.“This is a study that was prepared by the TPA’s chosen consultants, reviewed by the TPA, and approved by the TPA. There has been no arm’s length approval – by anyon... Full Story

Demise of Porter predicted by advocacy group

Air Canada Loss Not a Surprise – But Where’s Porter’s Market?Air Canada lost its court battle with Porter over slot allocations at the Island Airport July 22.“This is not a surprise.” said Brian Iler, Chair of CommunityAIR. “It confirms what we know too well - that the Toronto Port Authority wields ... Full Story

TPA rebuffs city on airport health issues

The Toronto Port Authority has rebuffed the city health board’s efforts to address the health impacts of the Island airport.In a report dated Oct. 27 and released publicly only recently, Dr. David McKeown, the city’s medical officer of health, documented numerous unsuccessful efforts to obtain infor... Full Story

Port authority's 'grand plans' are finished

Area councillor Adam Vaughan was outspoken in his opinion of the Canada Supreme Court ruling.“It’s nice to win after a long time,” he said. He terms it a “major victory” for cities across Canada who can have their port authorities paying their fair share of property taxes like any other businesses.V... Full Story

Road to Island airport blocked by compost dump

A city truck reportedly dumped a load of compost on the road leading to the Island airport Wednesday. Likely it wasn't a conspiracy of airport opponents or an imitation of the move by Chicago's mayor years ago when he bulldozed the runways of that city's urban airport.Word is it was just an error on... Full Story

URGENT: Toronto Port Authority may be bankrupted

Canada's Supreme Court has ruled that federal entities like the Toronto Port Authority must pay property taxes like any other property owner. This means the TPA must pay to the City of Toronto some $48 million. This is far more than the TPA can pay, and essentially bankrupts it, according to Communi... Full Story

Another angry Island airport meeting

The accusation was that the Toronto Port Authority (TPA) was playing games with the audience of about 60 who were crammed into a small room in the Harbourfront Community Centre.For the second time in 60 days there was a heated meeting between TPA, owners of the Island airport, and those from various... Full Story

Port Authority breaks promise: CommunityAIR

At a tumultuous public meeting last February 17, the Toronto Port Authority promised it would release the consultant‟s report that it says justifies doubling of traffic to the Island Airport from present levels “in a month”. Now, it has breached that promise. Instead, the TPA has informed CommunityA... Full Story

Pam McConnell faces off against Island airport boss

During the recent Island airport noise-reduction “public meeting” Feb. 18 called by the Toronto Port Authority, area residents were aghast to see that instead of a stage and chairs, there was no seating at the Harbourfront Radisson Hotel for a real meeting. Instead, TPA had set up a series of panel ... Full Story

Is Porter Airlines diving?

Porter Aviation Holdings’ Final Preliminary Prospectus, released last Wednesday, reveals some disturbing numbers in its first quarter (Q1) 2010 financial results. Having spent $25 million in sales and marketing over the 2009 year, what does it have to show for that spending in 2010? Do the Q1 2010 n... Full Story

Porter Air's owner wants to keep flying Air Canada for free...with his wife

Robert Deluce, president and CEO of Porter Airlines, has personally filed a statement of claim against Air Canada for breach of contract. The claim seeks up to $5 million in damages related to a travel pass agreement.In 1986, the Deluce family sold Air Ontario and Austin Airways to Air Canada. Under... Full Story

Port authority owes Toronto big, big bucks

A federal court last month ruled that the Toronto Port Authority (TPA), a tiny federal agency that dominates the city’s central waterfront, owes the city tens of millions of dollars in unpaid “taxes.”During the reign of current Tory MP Lisa Raitt as the agency’s CEO, TPA became a deadbeat by refusin... Full Story

Port authority owes city millions, court rules

In a decision released today, the Federal Court of Canada has overturned the decision of the federal government’s PILTs Dispute Advisory Panel that reduced the amount claimed by the City for property taxes (Payments in Lieu of Taxes, as the Toronto Port Authority [TPA] is a federal agency). In essen... Full Story

Porter Airlines is probably on its last legs

PORTER MEETS THE STOCK MARKETOn April 16, Porter Airlines announced the company would make a public offering of some of its shares (called and Initial Public Offering or IPO). To do so, it had to disclose details of its financial performance that until then had been kept secret. That disclosure, and... Full Story

Poll question

Ontario Municipal Board dictates development in the city. Should Toronto dump it?

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