A developer shows deep respect for our heritage

A significant but unanswered question remains about the proposal by Porter Airlines to accommodate jets on an expanded Island Airport: Will Porter keep on flying?

Are its long-time, expensive full-page, colourful daily ads in all Toronto major newspapers an attempt to create the impression of a prospering airline? And, as some analysts suggest, is its latest attempt to use jets for more and longer flights really an under-handed move to increase its perceived value to prepare for its sale?

Porter Airlines’ financial history is unclear. It is a private company. This means its ongoing financial condition is not publicly available. What is known is that it started in 2006 with $125 million. A major shareholder was the huge $60 billion union pension fund of the Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS).

In April, 2010, Porter was considering becoming a publicly traded company to raise more money. It withdrew its offering after it had to announce it lost $44.5 million until then. In 2011 it announced its first annual but undisclosed profit.

It now claims over two million passengers a year. But as of April this year, it no longer reveals how full its planes are.

Why? (For more information, google Porter Airlines, and see www.communityair.com.)

Porter is now playing hardball with some of its unionized employees. On Jan 10 this year, the 22 Porter airport fuel handlers went on strike after Porter only offered half of them a pitiful 25-cent wage increase. Their starting wage of $12/hr is barely above the Ontario minimum wage of $10.25.

Porter tried but failed to get an injunction to prevent picketers on public property. They then sued the employees’ union $4 million for defamation over Twitter comments. The now 5-month old strike drags on with replacement workers easy to hire these days of high unemployment.

OMERS has a seat on the Porter board of directors. There is a contradiction in a union pension fund not helping other working union members. Another even bigger $130 billion union pension fund, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan (OTPP), did the same some years ago. It had shares in the virulent Toronto Sun which was bashing its unionized teachers in their struggle with the Mike Harris government.

Union pension funds, like all pension funds, claim their only goal is to maximize their funds without regard for how. They work on the assumption that union retirees are willing to enrich themselves at the expense of working union members. Are they really right? It is a dilemma the labour movement has failed to resolve. A more positive approach to union pension funds has been taken by labour unions in British Columbia. They pooled their pension funds in 1989 in a development company, Concert Properties. They then set to work building good-quality housing. The projects created work for their unionized construction and other members. The aim was for more affordable rental housing. But today’s lack of previous federal and provincial government funding for affordable housing has led Concert to also build condos for sale.

A fine example is “The Berczy” condo, soon-to-open on Front and Church opposite the iconic Gooderham Flatiron Building.

And, unlike most private condo developers, however, Concert listened to city planners and the community.

They abandoned their first most inappropriate idea of a 30-storey tower. They built a well-integrated 12-storey project respecting its attractive, old Victorian neighbours. It was quickly sold out.

Concert has set an example for other developers to follow. The proposed 25-storey condo just up Church at 60 Colborne by Freed Developments should pay heed.