How Billy Bishop expansion could threaten Toronto’s $3B harbour cleanup

Expanding Billy Bishop Airport could seriously degrade Toronto’s inner harbour’s water quality and hamper a multibillion-dollar infrastructure project meant to keep the harbour clean as the city’s population continues to grow.

The findings in a new report from city staff are largely drawn from a 2017 environmental assessment conducted during the last big push to bring jets to the island airport.

However, the 2017 study was based on a 200-metre runway expansion. The new, incomplete proposal from the Toronto Port Authority (TPA) envisions a much longer footprint.