Volunteers communicating the need for Pickering Airport
An AEZ (Airport Employment Zone), also called an Airport Economic Zone, or an Advanced Enterprise Zone can be defined as: A centre of urban and regional economic growth, which relies on the speed and flow of the economy of an airport. For industry, an AEZ enables a global connection to customers, employees, and logistics. […]
Did the April 24th, 2023 Pickering City council meeting go absolutely BANANAs (Build Absolutely Nothing Anywhere Near Anyone) over a motion playing municipal politics with a federally mandated new airport? While the city has little control over if and when the airport is built, that did not stop two local councilors from putting forth […]
The new Pickering airport is a critical part of Canada’s future economic and aviation infrastructure. Yet the stories recently appearing in our local press rarely mention this. They do not quote aviation or business organizations and rarely touch on the benefits of the airport. Instead, they are covering the topic with a political focus. Why […]
A new airport in North Pickering just east of Toronto is now one of the centerpieces of the Durham Region’s draft official plan. While the plan must still be approved by the province, this is expected to be a nonissue. So, what are the next steps on the path to shovels in the ground on […]
By Ted Nickerson Building on my first “Philosophically Speaking” posting, I think the topic of the business case for the current and future use of the Federal Pickering lands deserves comment. I offer several perspectives on this. Is there a business case for farming, or for an airport? Where are they? What does the North […]
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 […]
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 […]
By Mark Brooks It is late Monday night, and I am in the city of Pickering council chambers about to speak at a council meeting. In among the usual city issues is buried a radical proposition added into the agenda at the last moment the previous Thursday. It is replete with misinformation on aviation from […]
By Mark Brooks The debate around the development of Pickering Airport is often focused on the business case, the demographics of growth and the environment. What about the moral case? What opportunities are we forgoing, and what future problems are we creating for our children, if we fail to build a new airport in Pickering? Is it […]
By Mark Brooks The recent announcement of Cadillac Fairview’s (CF) purchase of a 100% stake in Toronto Buttonville Airport has important implications for the development of an aerotropolis in nearby Pickering. Buttonville airport, a busy GA (General Aviation) and utility airport, sits on a 169-acre property in the City of Markham. Considered a prime site […]
