Canada. Airport Inquiry Commission : The Airport Inquiry Commission was established under Order in Council P.C. 3026, 5 October 1973, under Part I of the Inquiries Act (R.S.C., 1970, c. 1-13) and on the recommendation of the Committee of the Privy Council. The Commission was mandated to inquire into and report upon the air transportation needs of the central Ontario market as follows: (1) In relation to the decisions that there is a need for a new International Airport for the central Ontario market and that the new airport be located on the site near Pickering, to receive and record new evidence, if available and adduced, to report on such new evidence in response to the following questions: (a) respecting need; (i) what is the expected maximum passenger traffic volume in the domestic, trans-border and international air traffic markets for the year 1980 and what are the best estimates of rates of growth beyond 1980, and (ii) is there any new evidence that Toronto International Airport, Malton, can be expanded or reconfigured, within present boundaries, to meet all reasonable needs, having regard to runway capacity, ground access, terminal capacity and the number of people affected by disturbance from flight operations for the period up to 1980, 1990 and 2000; (b) respecting location, is there any new evidence to prove that the site near Pickering is not suitable for the new International Airport having regard to: (i) disturbance from flight operations; (ii) passenger convenience; (iii) regional economic effect; (iv) total environmental effect, positive and negative, and (v) facilities required, including related infrastructures such as roads, railways, guideways and helicopter facilities, and (c) generally, is there any relevant factor that has not been considered by the Government of Canada, such, for example, as established facts on technology or travel habits, that may appear to affect any decision of the government taken to date?
(2) To receive and report on any evidence adduced and, if deemed advisable, to make recommendations in so far as they are within federal legislative jurisdiction in response to the following questions: (a) should the new International Airport be principally international in character or should it serve some other function; (b) what airline traffic sectors or parts thereof should be allocated to the new International Airport in the major first phase in order to relieve the disturbance caused by flight operations at Malton; (c) to what extent should domestic and United States traffic be served at the new International Airport in addition to the airport having an international role; (d) should the opening date of the major first phase be 1980 or later; (e) should there be a partial or limited opening of the new International Airport prior to 1980; (f) what should be the nature of: (i) the ground access to the new International Airport, and (ii) the inter-airport transportation between Toronto International Airport, Malton, and the new International Airport, and (g) from the point of view of passenger convenience, should a downtown terminal or terminals be established in respect of Toronto International Airport, Malton or the new International Airport? The commissioners were Hugh F. Gibson, chairman, Murray V. Jones and Howard E. Petch. The secretary was Audrey Faux.
In December 1968, the federal Minister of Transport, Paul Hellyer, announced that the Toronto International Airport at Malton would not be enlarged beyond its current boundaries. Limited expansion within its boundaries would be allowed until a second international airport to serve the Toronto area was ready. The intention was to restrict the volume of air traffic, as well as the noise level at Malton, for the benefit of people living in the area.
Over 50 sites were examined as alternatives to the Malton Airport using the following criteria: safety and technical aviation considerations, social and environmental effects, regional planning, passenger convenience and costs.
After several studies, on 2 March 1972, the Federal Minister of Transport, Don Jamieson, and the Treasurer of Ontario, Darcy McKeough, made a joint announcement that a new international airport for Toronto would be located about 30 miles northwest of the City in Pickering Township. At that time, Darcy McKeough told the Ontario Legislature that the Pickering site was chosen for the following reasons:
"In the first place, it is an excellent site, consistent with safety and other aeronautical considerations. Secondly, it is also the closest site to Toronto of all the proposed sites and, therefore, provides the easiest accessibility. Thirdly, because it is reasonably close to Lake Ontario and to a number of major transportation arteries leading out of Toronto, investment in water, sewage, and transportation access facilities will be less than at other sites. Fourthly, even though it is close to Toronto, population in the immediate vicinity of the new airport is small. No major communities will be seriously affected by expropriation or very high noise levels and the environmental impact is minimized. Finally, and in many respects most important, the location of the airport east of Toronto is the result of joint federal-provincial effort to provide a major stimilus to development east of Metropolitan Toronto, as called for in the Toronto-Centered Region plan."
As a result, the Government of Canada took steps to expropriate the lands comprising the proposed site for the new airport and the Province of Ontario introduced legislation to acquire land in the vicinity as well. On 30 January 1973, when hearings under the federal Expropriation Act (R.S.C., 1970, c.E-19) concerning land in the Pickering area were tabled in Parliament, the Government of Canada affirmed its intention to expropriate. At the same time, the federal Minister of Transport, Jean Marchand, announced that a public inquiry would be held to receive any new evidence regarding the need for and the location of a new international airport and other relevant factors not previously considered.
Although its terms of reference were somewhat restrictive, Marchand's decision to appoint a public inquiry was, undoubtedly, influenced by groups such as the Pickering Township Council and the People Over Planes Committee which claimed that construction of an airport would not only harm the environment but disrupt life in communities in the Pickering area. (See Report of the Airport Inquiry Commission, Ottawa, Information Canada, 1974; RG 33/103, Vol. 12, Exhibit 109; and House of Commons, Debates, 30 January 1973, pp. 812-815).
Organizational hearings were held in Malton, Pickering and Toronto from 20-22 February 1974 and public hearings were held in Malton, Pickering, Toronto, and Brougham from 18 March to 21 August 1974. The Commissioners also consulted with experts engaged in the airline industry in London, Paris, Rome, West Berlin and in various cities in the United States. There were 569 exhibits filed with the commission. RG33-103 General Inventory
