The province is trying to take away the land on which Billy Bishop Airport operates in order to force the city to allow jets to operate there. It’s a rash move that only underscores the premier’s fixation with all things Toronto. 

It was particularly tone deaf of the premier to give a press conference at the Island airport just hours after two Air Canada pilots were killed at LaGuardia Airport when their jet collided with a firetruck on the runway. His decision to proceed with the announcement speaks volumes about the premier who is a “Get-R-Done” kind of leader: tactless, rash, politically expedient. 

He has declared the airport site a “special economic zone.” This means the province would not have to do an environmental impact assessment. The special economic zone designation was supposed to be used to get roads into the Ring of Fire for resource extraction, not as a bully tool to force a major change on Toronto’s waterfront without due consideration and consultation.  

Apparently, Ford’s jet dreams stem from a poll showing that Toronto residents are clamouring for this move. He has yet to produce this poll, and he has certainly not done any kind of feasibility study. He is more working off of “vibes.” 

The bulk of new jet flights would be to the U.S. at a time when the federal government is urging more trade and travel overseas, not to the States. The jets that can land at Billy Bishop would not have the range for transatlantic routes. Billy Bishop is a postage-stamp- sized airport with no significant hangar space and no parking for airline patrons. The potential for a LaGuardia-type tragedy is far greater in a smaller space. Then there is the heavily used harbour and waterfront. The new aircraft would be very close to new residential towers and ferry traffic, to say nothing of the noise and pollution. 

Doug Ford’s grand ideas for what Toronto should be doing while ignoring the needs of the province makes one wonder what he has up his sleeve. There seems to always be an end game that is not directly related to stated goals. 

Removing selected parcels of the Greenbelt from protection was not about solving the housing crisis. No expert thought this was a sensible move due to the lack of basic infrastructure. It was an opportunity to benefit specific developers who would buy the farmland cheap and then make millions when development restrictions were lifted. The RCMP still has Ford under criminal investigation for that scheme.

Closing the Ontario Science Centre in the middle of the night was not to “protect the children” from a potentially collapsing roof; it was to build a new science centre on the Exhibition grounds which would require a parking garage, the same parking garage that the province has promised to build for the new luxury spa that will be built on the site of the former Ontario Place.

Ford has placed the Toronto school boards under provincial supervision. He is giving an obscene paycheque to the supervisor who is unqualified but a friend of the Conservative Party. This does not improve the educational experience. This move also appears to be about selling off school lands to developers while the market is depressed. Selling off school properties or closing schools with low enrolment was prohibited by the province until it got into the driver’s seat.

Ford has mused about his disdain for the residents of the island. He also suggested he would build a new island in Lake Ontario for a grand convention centre on the scale he said of “shock and awe”. Maybe our little Trump is suggesting evicting the 600 island residents and displacing the treasured city park with a new convention centre. Is this his end game?

Ford is also meddling in Ottawa where he is trying to get the Carney government to amend the Criminal Code to allow everyone to carry pepper spray so we can attack one another should we feel threatened. He is not dealing with the $500-billion provincial debt, health care, education, or the housing crises. These are true provincial responsibilities. Be a premier, or at least try to be one. 

READ MORE EDITORIALS:

• EDITORIAL: Take from the poor and give to the rich (Mar. 2026)
• EDITORIAL: ‘An international relations earthquake’ (Feb. 2026)
• EDITORIAL: Poilievre endorses Trump’s actions; he should never be PM(Jan. 2026)
• EDITORIAL: Toronto has matured; Doug Ford has not (Dec. 2025)
• EDITORIAL: Governing by gut, not facts (Oct./Nov. 2025)
• EDITORIAL: Pierre is in a political pickle (Sept. 2025)
• EDITORIAL: Fact over fiction: Ford’s Bill 212 fails on its merits (Aug. 2025)
• EDITORIAL: No experience necessary managing a school board (July 2025)
• EDITORIAL: Bill 5 recklessly endangers Ontario (May/June 2025)
• EDITORIAL: Thou shalt not park in a bike lane (Apr. 2025)
• EDITORIAL: Bike lane facts Ford knew (Mar. 2025)
• EDITORIAL: Poilievre’s perfect storm (Feb. 2025)
• EDITORIAL: An election designed to distract voters (Jan. 2025)
• EDITORIAL: Bill 212 causes congestion (Dec. 2024)
• EDITORIAL: Fact-checking Ford (Oct./Nov. 2024)
• EDITORIAL: An injection of ignorance (Sept. 2024)
• EDITORIAL: Road safety for some, sometimes (Summer 2024)
• EDITORIAL: Ford’s boozy billion-dollar blunder (June 2024)
• EDITORIAL: Ford needs to step up and lead for once (May 2024)
• EDITORIAL: The Vacant Home Tax: A multi-mayor failure (Apr. 2024)
• EDITORIAL: Ford‘s actions “reflect a juvenile understanding of the role of the judiciary” (Mar. 2024)
• EDITORIAL: The “Get it Done Act” should get Ford out (Feb. 2024)