Philosophically Speaking…#1: Class 1 Farmland

By Ted Nickerson This is the first of three-part series on the deeper meaning of the fight over the development of Pickering airport. The events of the last few weeks, (the City of Pickering motion to rescind support for an airport / the Region’s Draft Official Plan Statutory Public meeting) got me wondering about the […]

Supporting Pickering Airport is the right path

It has become fashionable for “Headline Environmentalists” to believe that climate change can be fought with political decrees opposing growth. In Pickering, two new councilors’ put forward just such a motion, in this case opposing a new airport on federal land, using misleading information from a lobby group. Luckily for us and them, the majority […]

Final Update – Aviation Recovers in 2023

By Ted Nickerson, March 10, 2023 This will be my last update from an aviation recovery perspective. In my first posting on this topic in March 2022, I identified that IATA (1) predicted that North American commercial aviation would reach 94% of the 2019 passenger traffic volume by year-end 2022 and reach 102% by year-end […]

The Real History of Pickering Airport

The history of the land set aside for Pickering Airport is a fascinating window into the development of Canada and the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). It is often presented as a dark tale of the politicization of infrastructure development, regional rivalry, and misinformation. It has been referred to as “the other Mirabel” for political and […]

Federal Pickering Lands: The Solid Archaeological Knowledge Base

By Ted Nickerson, Without question, meaningful and respectful consultation with First Nations and Metis Nations will be an essential component of any development on these lands. The great work already done by Transport Canada and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) provides a solid base for these consultations similar to the Seaton consultations. In-depth archaeological […]

Reversing the growth of Toronto’s Air Travel Mayhem

“Toronto airport is a total Nightmare” reads the headline of a story highlighting the suffering of individual travelers. The media is full of hundreds of these human-interest stories over the Christmas of 2022, but this headline was from February 2019. Over the years, reporters looking for a quick “if it bleeds, it leads” story need […]