Viewpoint: Little Norway omission tells of Port Authority-planned fate

By Brenda Roman –

In mid-July, the Toronto Star decided to run a contest for “Top Waterfront Park” to see which waterfront park was most popular. For some reason, even when reminded, it decided to leave out Little Norway Park, a major park between what used to be called Lower Bathurst St. and Little Norway Crescent.

Little Norway Park is an urban gem that stretches from Queens Quay W. on the north all the way to the water’s edge on the south, in the areas not claimed by the Toronto Port Authority for access to the Island airport. That airport is a relic of the industrial age on Toronto’s waterfront and the bane of the neighbourhood for its noise, pollution and traffic congestion, which threatens our children’s safety.

We have recently learned that the Port Authority, in defiance of the vision Torontonians have for a clean, green waterfront, has gained an easement over key parts of Little Norway Park that they have not already gouged out. The Port Authority can do what it wants, when it wants with about one-third of the park, encompassing the baseball diamond, the soccer field, and the monument to Little Norway, for which the park is named.

The Port Authority likely wants to run a big road down the park or build a multi-storey parking garage blocking the view park-goers now have of the water and the boats going through the Western Channel.

Was it because of the Port Authority’s hated easement that the Star omitted Little Norway Park from its consideration?