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The Local Story

Media coverage of airports, aviation, farming, farmland protection, and food and water security in Southern Ontario

Number of Articles: 391

What happens next as Buttonville airport in Markham prepares to shut down?

Publication Date: June 2, 2023

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Buttonville Airport announces, once again, that it will close.City News: Toronto

One of Toronto’s airports will be shutting down its 2nd busiest runway. Here’s what that means

Publication Date: March 29, 2022

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Air traffic numbers are so low that Toronto Pearson airport is able to close its second-busiest runway for 7 months for maintenance.CTV News

Oshawa: What’s going on at the airport?

Publication Date: January 19, 2019

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Oshawa airport is growing again, adding a new hangar.DurhamRegion.com

Top 10 highlights of RNUP management plan

Publication Date: January 17, 2019

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Rouge National Urban Park releases its Management Plan. Looks like they read our Ag Study.Government of Canada: Parks Canada

Rouge National Urban Park Management Plan 2019

Publication Date: January 17, 2019

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See the full plan here.Government of Canada: Parks Canada

Literally true, deeply misleading

Publication Date: December 28, 2018

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(letter to the editor) Writer corrects Durham Region’s misleading justification for building Pickering airport: Airport capacity is based on runway capacity, not number of air passengers. Read comments too.DurhamRegion.com

Agriculture in the Greenbelt

Publication Date: November 1, 2018

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The Ontario Farmland Trust publishes a useful Greenbelt fact sheet.Ontario Farmland Trust

Oshawa: Inside the airport’s new control tower

Publication Date: August 15, 2018

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Oshawa, Durham Region’s airport, has opened a new control tower to manage its growing general aviation traffic.DurhamRegion.com

Oshawa: Airport development plans uncertain

Publication Date: July 18, 2018

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Oshawa’s indecision on how to plan economic development on its airport lands is caused by the never-ending threat of Pickering airport.oshawaexpress.com

Pearson: Should not become next Hong Kong airport

Publication Date: July 12, 2018

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(letter to the editor) Pearson's governance model means that it is not accountable to the communities around the airport.Toronto.com

Simcoe: Can you spare $60M for airport expansion?

Publication Date: May 21, 2018

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Lake Simcoe Regional Airport asks its municipal owners for $60M for airport expansion. The Mayor of Barrie is a tough sell: “We have many roads that need fixing, many buildings that need (fixing), and to add a major capital request ... it’s going to have to have a pretty solid business case behind it."orilliamatters.com

Billy Bishop: Porter clings to hope of jets

Publication Date: May 18, 2018

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Porter Airlines still hopes to fly jets from Billy Bishop airport someday.financialpost.com

Trudeau: Montreal airport to get $2.5B facelift

Publication Date: April 30, 2018

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Major expansion of Montreal airport's terminal facilities announced.Montreal Gazette

Buttonville airport to continue operations into 2023

Publication Date: April 27, 2018

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We never close dept. On October 27, 2010, Derek Sifton, owner of Markham’s Buttonville airport, announced the airport's closure within 5 years to make way for a residential and commercial development joint-venture with Cadillac Fairview. In December, 2014, he announced that closure would be delayed to the fall of 2016 while the development project awaited planning approvals. In April, 2016, he announced that closure had been pushed back to at least October 31, 2017. A year ago, he announced a deferral to October 31, 2018. Now it's 2023.Cision

Pearson: New draft master plan includes transit hub

Publication Date: April 24, 2018

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Pearson airport's "far long term" plan includes the possibility of adding a seventh runway.UrbanToronto.ca

Kingston: Garneau here with cash to boost airport safety

Publication Date: April 12, 2018

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The only investments made by the federal government on small airports are for safety facilities.ipolitics

GTAA and Metrolinx to study regional transit and passenger centre connections

Publication Date: April 11, 2018

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Toronto Pearson's current bottleneck is getting air passengers in/out of the airport, which they intend to solve by increasing access by mass transit.Cision

The Meadoway: 16 km stretch of urban park will make big connection

Publication Date: April 11, 2018

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The proposed Meadoway urban park will link the Don Valley to Rouge National Urban Park.CBC News

Peterborough: airport traffic louder than expected, say residents

Publication Date: March 15, 2018

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Aircraft noise at Peterborough airport is higher than the forecasts.MyKawartha.com

Report: Farmland Value and Rental Value Survey 2017

Publication Date: March 1, 2018

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(pdf) A much-discussed topic at agricultural meetings these days is that young farmers can no longer afford to buy farmland to get started in the business. This OFA/University of Guelph survey suggests that farmer-to-farmer land sales are history in Halton and Peel Regions. The best hope remaining for young farmers in the GTA is York and Durham Regions.University of Guelph

Peterborough: expropriating homes to help pilots

Publication Date: February 27, 2018

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Peterborough decides to expropriate homes to improve airport runway.MyKawartha.com

Peterborough: Airport master plan approved but neighbours cry foul

Publication Date: February 21, 2018

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Peterborough approves its airport growth plan but local residents continue to complain about noise from the airport flying school.Global News

Province scrubs plans for new 440-style road across Caledon

Publication Date: February 16, 2018

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The proposed "Highway 413" (aka the GTA West Expressway) won’t proceed. Nearly all of the planned route was on Class 1 farm soil. Thousands of acres of our most productive farmland would have been lost. Thank you to the advisory panel and the government!Orangeville Citizen

Hamilton: Blue skies ahead

Publication Date: February 12, 2018

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Hamilton airport is finally having some business success.The Bay Observer

Peterborough: Aviation expert imagines expanded hu

Publication Date: February 5, 2018

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An aviation consultant thinks Peterborough airport could become a pilot training and commuter flight hub, provided the city invests $48M in their airport over the next 20 years.Peterborough Examiner

Simcoe: Airline may offer flights from Barrie area to Ottawa, Montreal

Publication Date: January 30, 2018

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Last year, Toronto Pearson and 10 other regional airports in southern Ontario formed SOAN (South Ontario Airports Network). Part of SOAN's strategy is to increase Pearson's runway efficiency by encouraging growth of small-passenger-aircraft short-haul business at existing underutilized regional airports.Simcoe.com

Ontario ag sets export records at Port of Hamilton

Publication Date: January 26, 2018

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Suffering from a dying steel industry, the Port of Hamilton has reinvented itself as the major port for agricultural shipping to/from southern Ontario.Farms.com

Hamilton airport: Passenger traffic up 80 per cent, say officials

Publication Date: January 24, 2018

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In 2017, Hamilton airport had a huge jump in air passenger traffic. Last year, ultra-low cost Flair airlines started flying from Hamilton, causing aggressive price cutting by Westjet and Air Canada. For certain Canadian destinations, it is currently much cheaper to fly from Hamilton than from Pearson.CBC News

Hamilton airport: Aeroship Handling to operate in air cargo centre

Publication Date: January 18, 2018

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Hamilton airport's cargo business is thriving.SKIES

Millennials are leaving desk jobs for this surprising profession

Publication Date: January 18, 2018

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Millennials want to return to the farm. Barriers include the price of land and equipment.ThriveGlobal

Durham launches local a food business project

Publication Date: January 15, 2018

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Durham Region has launched a project to support local business development and job creation in the agri-food sector.GHFFA

Oshawa airport: manager to inform feds of noise concerns of residents

Publication Date: January 10, 2018

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Oshawa airport is notifying Transport Canada of local complaints about airport noise.oshawaexpress.ca

Waterloo airport: WestJet changing red-eye flight into Bresla

Publication Date: January 9, 2018

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Customer complaints cause Westjet to change its Calgary-Waterloo red-eye (Waterloo airport's only daily inbound commercial flight) to an early evening schedule.TheRecord.com

Ontario proposal aims to double ethanol blend in fuel

Publication Date: January 3, 2018

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Ontario's proposal to lower greenhouse gas emissions by increasing the ethanol content of gasoline from 5% to 10% will require a lot more corn production.CountryGuide

Peterborough airport: changes flight paths due to noise complaints

Publication Date: December 28, 2017

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Peterborough airport's response to noise complaints hasn’t ended the complaints.MyKawartha.com

Mississauga cries foul, votes to halt negotiations with GTAA

Publication Date: December 16, 2017

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Oakville and Mississauga are annoyed at Pearson for lack of dialogue and cooperation with them over land expansion and the proposed transit hub.thestar.com

Ontario moves forward with EA on high-speed rail

Publication Date: December 15, 2017

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(news release) The next step. Ontario has started an environmental assessment of its plan to build a high-speed rail system in the Toronto-Windsor corridor.Government of Ontario

Oshawa airport: Anger circles around airport

Publication Date: December 12, 2017

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Oshawa residents are angry about its airport noise.oshawaexpress.ca

Oshawa airport: Getting results

Publication Date: December 12, 2017

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(editorial) The airport has a contract to operate until “no less than 2047,” and it’a valuable resource for Oshawa.oshawaexpress.ca

Toronto Pearson Master Plan, 2017-2037: Growing Responsibly

Publication Date: December 1, 2017

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The GTAA has just released its 2017-2037 Draft Master Plan, a "rigorous assessment of the demand that Toronto Pearson expects to face over the next 20 years." Although it forecasts annual air passenger traffic to increase by 81% over the next 20 years (from 47 to 85 million) and annual air cargo to increase 113% (from 450 to 958 kilotonnes), it plans to accommodate this growth by expansion of its existing terminal buildings as required. Aircraft movement growth is expected to be a much lower 32% (from 478,000 to 632,000 annually) due to an industry-wide shift to larger aircraft accommodating more passengers and cargo per plane. This will result in a 30% increase in the productivity of Pearson's runways, meaning that Pearson has no need for additional runways in the next 20 years. Pearson has environmental assessment approval to use available land to build a sixth runway, although it’s not needed to meet growth through 2037. In other words, Pearson doesn't expect to "go full" within the next 20 years and has options after that. Pickering isn’t mentioned.GTAA

Organic Grain Farming: Dinner Starts Here

Publication Date: November 15, 2017

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(video) In the current episode of Dinner Starts Here, farmer Andrew Campbell visits Darryl Boersma's farm, west of London, during organic corn harvest. This corn is fed to livestock intended for organic meats in grocery stores. Weeds in organic corn are entirely controlled by flame and cultivators; no man-made or natural chemical ever touches the field or crop. Downside: production requires a lot more labour than conventional methods, requiring several additional fuel-burning and soil compacting tractor passes. Mr Boersma points out that most organic grain is imported to satisfy demand.Fresh Air Farmer

Waterloo to Toronto in under 20 minutes

Publication Date: November 7, 2017

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FlyGTA inaugurates 18-minute Waterloo-Billy Bishop "air taxi" service.TheRecord.com

Daily London-Toronto Island flights could take off in 2018

Publication Date: November 2, 2017

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FlyGTA inaugurates 18-minute Waterloo-Billy Bishop "air taxi" service.TheRecord.com

Oshawa airport: Refurbished runway open for business

Publication Date: November 1, 2017

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Many local politicians have been actively plotting the demise of Oshawa airport by pushing for a Pickering airport instead, yet some of these same politicians show up for a photo-op celebrating Oshawa's new facilities to accommodate the future growth that will provide a "competitive edge" and "the opportunity to compete around the world." Shamelessly talking out of both sides of their mouth, it seems.Oshawa Express

Oshawa airport: closing customs house no surprise (letter to the editor)

Publication Date: October 31, 2017

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(letter to the editor) Letter-writer says that the constant chatter by local politicians promoting a future Pickering airport undermines Oshawa, Durham Region's real airport.DurhamRegion,com

Waterloo: Jetlines won’t fly from airport until 2020

Publication Date: October 30, 2017

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Another Canadian ultra-low-fare air carrier defers its start-up flight plans.CBC News

Mississauga eager to firm up deal with Pearson operators

Publication Date: October 29, 2017

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Mississauga wants Toronto Pearson to start paying its fair share of municipal services – just in case Transport Canada decides to sell the airport to private interests.Mississauga.com

Flooding events underscore need for local action

Publication Date: October 27, 2017

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Ajax’s Mayor Parish says that we must learn from the lessons of Hurricane Harvey. Paving over north-east Pickering farmlands will increase the potential for disastrous flooding in south-east Ajax.DurhamRegion.com

Bittersweet end of an era for Whittamore’s Farm

Publication Date: October 22, 2017

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Whittamore's Farm will be permanently closed to the public after Hallowe’en. A terrible blow to the community. Mike Whittamore says they had 300,000 visitors last year.YorkRegion.com

Ontario hands over huge swath of land for Rouge Park

Publication Date: October 22, 2017

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Ontario finally announces the transfer of land it controls to the Rouge National Urban Park. Parks Canada now manages 80% of the planned park size. thestar.com

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