(Editor's note:  This press release was released by CommunityAIR this morning.)

CommunityAIR - devoted to restoring the lands and harbour now occupied by the Toronto Island airport to park, recreation, and cultural uses.

For Immediate Release, July 23, 2009 Toronto, In a letter delivered yesterday to Prime Minister Stephen Harper (attached), Community AIR has called on him to finally fix the continuing dysfunctional governance of Toronto’s waterfront by the Toronto Port Authority. The call is based on the latest evidence that the dysfunction continues unabated – a decision of the Federal Conflict of Interest and Ethics Commissioner, released on June 25, 20091 on alleged conflict of interest. The Commissioner, Mary Dawson, investigated the circumstances surrounding the TPA board’s 5-4 decision last January to purchase a new ferry for Porter’s expanding Toronto Island Airport operations. She found "There is clearly a level of dysfunction as well as a power struggle within the TPA Board."

1 http://ciec-ccie.gc.ca/%5Cresources%5Cfiles%5CEnglish%5CPublic%20Reports%5CExamination%20Reports%5CThe%20Watson%20Report.pdf)

Harper appointees, most of whom have links to the Mike Harris government, dominate the TPA board. The swing vote was that of Colin Watson, who sits on the board of Vector Aerospace with Robert Deluce, CEO of Porter. To quote the decision; According to the other Board members, Mr. Watson has on many occasions indicated to them that Mr. Deluce was a "friend" or a "pal". Mr. Watson himself agreed that this was the case. Section 4 of the Conflict of Interest Act states, in part:

While the Commissioner ultimately found that there are friends, and there are friends, she did not have the jurisdiction to inquire into the TPA’s own Code of Conduct which is even more strict: public confidence and trust in the integrity and impartiality of the Authority may be as equally compromised by the appearance of a conflict as by the existence of an actual conflict.