Volunteers communicating the need for Pickering Airport
By Ted Nickerson and Mark Brooks On October 10, 2020, Friends of Pickering Airport posted a report, ”Who is Leasing the Pickering Airport Lands?”, looking at the number, type and lessees of the Pickering Airport lands that have been retained for economic development including an airport. The new airport will be adjacent to the Rouge […]
By Mark Brooks In October, 2020, the Member of Parliament for Pickering-Uxbridge, Jennifer O’Connell, sponsored an E-Petition in the House of Commons calling on the federal government to cancel a new airport being planned in North Pickering. It called for the existing leases on a billion-dollar government land parcel to be extended for decades to […]
By Mark Brooks “When is a park not a park?” When it is leased out at fire sale rates to a chosen few corporations and individuals. This is a common problem and source of corruption with government-owned land in some parts of the world, but could it happen in Canada? A Government MP may be […]
By Mark Brooks Today, five of the six local municipal governments, including the city of Pickering, support building a new airport and economic development zone. But aviation is a federal jurisdiction and one of the local Members of Parliament, Jennifer O’Connell, is opposed. The new airport, to be built on land already set aside for it […]
Written by Mark Brooks The hubris of a new E-petition authorized by Member of Parliament Jennifer O’Connell is raising eyebrows on both sides of the Canadian House of Commons. The reason? It appears to twists the findings of a government report and use misdirection in the wording of the petition. The petition asks the government to transfer a […]
Written by Mark Brooks The recently released KPMG ASA report states that development of Pickering Airport is now viable, and suggests breaking ground on a new industrial airport in 2026. The suggestion is to start with a minimal footprint that can be expanded as needed. The new airport will be built on thousands of acres […]
By Mark Brooks In response to a Freedom of Information request, we have received the list of leaseholders for the Pickering lands retained for economic development, including an airport. A big thank you and shout–out to Transport Canada for doing what they could on this politically–charged topic. Although heavily redacted, the response provides enough information […]
by Mark Brooks A citizen, worried that the pandemic is being used as cover to reward insiders, writes a letter to his Liberal MP. The reply he received was laced with misinformation and should worry every Canadian. It highlights the lack of leadership and wishful thinking now delaying the development of new infrastructure in Canada. In […]
It reads like a B-movie script for a government scandal. A billion dollars in government land leased out to a select few, mostly unknown, insiders well below market rates. Brave local mayors and town councils harassed at every turn as they fight to get the attention of a distant uncaring federal government. The local citizen […]
By Ted Nickerson In 2019, major international aviation agencies (ICAO, IATA) predicted that global passenger volumes would double by 2037. Annual passenger growth had been healthy, and all looked well. That changed in early 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic struck. Cities, regions, and even countries went into lock-down. Borders closed. Aviation commercial passenger volumes crashed. […]
