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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
Oshawa airport is growing again, adding a new hangar.DurhamRegion.com
Top 10 highlights of RNUP management plan
Publication Date: January 17, 2019
Tags: Environment, Food/Water/Agriculture, RNUP
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
Tags: Environment, Food/Water/Agriculture, RNUP
See the full plan here.Government of Canada: Parks Canada
Literally true, deeply misleading
Publication Date: December 28, 2018
Tags: Aviation/Airports
(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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
(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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
Major expansion of Montreal airport's terminal facilities announced.Montreal Gazette
Buttonville airport to continue operations into 2023
Publication Date: April 27, 2018
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Environment, RNUP
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
(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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
Hamilton airport is finally having some business success.The Bay Observer
Peterborough: Aviation expert imagines expanded hu
Publication Date: February 5, 2018
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
Hamilton airport's cargo business is thriving.SKIES
Millennials are leaving desk jobs for this surprising profession
Publication Date: January 18, 2018
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Climate Change, Environment
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Climate Change, Environment
(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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
Oshawa residents are angry about its airport noise.oshawaexpress.ca
Oshawa airport: Getting results
Publication Date: December 12, 2017
Tags: Aviation/Airports
(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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
(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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
FlyGTA inaugurates 18-minute Waterloo-Billy Bishop "air taxi" service.TheRecord.com
Oshawa airport: Refurbished runway open for business
Publication Date: November 1, 2017
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
(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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Aviation/Airports
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
Tags: Climate Change, Environment
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
Tags: Food/Water/Agriculture
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
Tags: Environment, RNUP
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