Volunteers communicating the need for Pickering Airport
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 […]
By Ted Nickerson and Mark Brooks There’s an old joke about requiring politicians to wear a NASCAR like uniforms that tell us who their sponsors are. In Canada we like to think we are above such nonsense thanks to a ban on corporate donations. But this is no defense against special interest groups, political action […]
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 and Ted Nickerson On November 18, 2020, the Urban Land Institute (ULI) held a virtual event called “Transform Pickering: Big Moves in the GTA’s Frontier City”. Moderated by Emma Ward (Bousfield Inc), the session provided a forum for Dave Ryan, Mayor City of Pickering, assisted by Paula Bustard, Fiaz Jadoon, and Johan Van’t Hof, to present key strategic projects and the long-term vision that will fundamentally transform the City of Pickering. The City’s vision […]
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 […]
The Oshawa Airport, located in the Greater Toronto Area, is very busy with residents complaining about the increasing noise from aircraft, despite new flight restrictions implemented by the Airport. Oshawa is part of Durham Region, one of the fastest growing areas in North America. This region and five of the local mayors, have a solution that […]
By Mark Brooks Traffic at Oshawa airport is now above pre-pandemic levels. The hangars at airports in the Toronto region are full, some with a waiting list of commercial and private aircraft. At Oshawa a flight school is being culled to reduce noise. Jobs and millions in economic activity are being lost due to the […]
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 […]
By Ted Nickerson A local pilot noticed during a training flight what appears to be a substantial construction project underway on the federal Pickering Airport Lands. The pilot, Mark Brooks, posted the photo on social media. Naturally, this gets the immediate attention of Pickering Airport supporters. What is this? Does it negatively impact a future airport? […]
