Back when the Stephen Harper government first took power in Ottawa they were sensitive to the raging controversy around the Island Airport and the Toronto Port Authority.  The government appointed a retired civil servant, Roger Tasse, to investigate the controversy.  In time Tasse published his report which was a complete whitewash but he did level one telling criticism.   He said that the Toronto Port Authority had terrible relations with the community and said it must improve.  Here is a direct quote from the Tasse Report. 

"A determined effort should be made by the TPA to take a more proactive approach to community consultations. It would be important for the TPA to reach out to organizations and groups who have raised concerns about its operations to build relationships and stimulate reasonable discussions and to, at the same time, begin a dialogue with those who have not been actively involved in the discussion about the TPA to-date."

Not only has nothing happened to heal these problems but now Mark McQueen, the current chair of the TPA, has taken to insulting community members like Brian Iler, the chair of CommunityAIR, who are doing nothing more than trying to make the Port Authority accountable.  The relationship between community members and the TPA have deteriorated to the point where insults and poorly disguised verbal digs in the media are the only means of communication.

But it is even worse than this.  McQueen makes it sound like the TPA community stakeholder meeting on noise is an active group that meets regularly to discuss problems of noise.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  They have met twice in the last twelve months (February 18 and July 14) and the airport staff have both times been roundly criticized for failing to provide material to the participants in sufficient time to permit them to prepare for the meetings. There is no ongoing communication between the TPA or airport staff with the members of the committee, and no future meetings have been planned.  According to participants, the meetings feel more like window-dressing than real consultation.

Toronto City Councillors, along with members of CommunityAIR, have complained about the curfew violations, and problems with taxis at the city site terminal but they are ignored.  Now, as the neighbourhood newspaper, The Bulletin, points out the Toronto Port Authority completely ignored the Toronto Board of Health.  "Dr. David McKeown, the city's medical officer of health, documented numerous unsuccessful efforts to obtain information from the TPA," but nothing was forthcoming.

The Toronto Port Authority is a rogue federal government agency that ignores the concerns of the community.  Under Mark McQueen's leadership the relationship with the community has deteriorated even further.  There is only one solution.  The TPA must be turned over to the City of Toronto.  It has lost the confidence of the community and the city.

Bill Freeman