V.O.C.A.L Facts Pages

This section of the Web Site is dedicated to giving you the facts about the proposed Pickering Airport, including a detailed GTAA airports capacity page which clearly shows an airport on the Pickering Lands is not needed for many years, if ever, and that the GTAA’s proposal is extremely premature at best..

Click on the links above for the real facts....a summary is below.

          The Greater Toronto Airport Authority has grossly misrepresented the facts           as they relate to other airport closures.

Markham Airport Facts

• Markham airport has approved expansion in the York Region official plan.

• Markham airport is positioned to replace Buttonville and can do so employing just 600 acres of land. This provides    them with 2 7-8 thousand foot runways capable of landing any aircraft.

• Markham Airport had a feasibility study done by Toten-Sims-Hubicki in 1995 showing capability to replace              Buttonville,  complete with GO Transit connection currently adjoining their property.

• Markham Business plan calls for training and repair facilities.

• Transportation corridors and access are much better to Markham than to Pickering.

Buttonville Airport Facts

• The Sifton Family have told the GTAA that closing of their facility is not at the GTAA discretion.

• Heather Sifton told Steven Shaw of the GTAA to "go to hell" in public, and that they are not closing, after he             outlined  this to the Markham Board of Trade at the unveiling.

• Markham community groups including a Board of Trade member support a move to Markham Airport.

                      The forecasts presented in the GTAA documents exceed those                   published by Transport Canada. 

                      See on our site under GTAA section, real versus GTAA forecasts, for full Transport              Canada report published Sept 2004

• The GTAA front loaded demand to achieve the long term growth rate used in the FAA. In the   early years growth in   the FAA is twice the Transport Canada forecasts then in latter years growth   is below to end up at a long term    average that is still 30% above Transport Canada forecasts.

The airspace and airport capacity figures used by the GTAA in their proposal are inaccurate.

• Hamilton Airport has design capacity of 15 million, not 9 million as stated by GTAA.

• Kitchener Waterloo Regional Reliever Airport was excluded entirely from the analysis but currently has two 7000 foot runways on the ground today and a terminal design capability of 8 million.

• Kitchener Waterloo airport is only 2 kilometres further away from Pearson yet it was conveniently excluded from consideration and discussion in an effort by the GTAA to show Pickering is needed.

• Toronto City Centre airport is excluded entirely from the analysis of capacity and roles despite ongoing plans to expand without the bridge connection.

        The design capacity of existing airports today exceeds the forecast passenger      volume of 2032 as outlined by the GTAA in their proposal.

• The GTAA optimistically forecasts 2032 traffic of 70 million passengers.  The design capacity on the ground today is 73 million passengers per year,  50 million at Pearson Airport, 15 Million at Hamilton Airport, and 8 million at Kitchener Waterloo Airport. These figures don't even take into account what Buttonville, Oshawa, and Markham Airports can handle.

An Environmental Assessment of airport need and airspace use 20 –25 years in the future is prone to miscalculations and we feel it is better measured closer to actual need.

• The Checklist Approach offers a much more reliable model for aligning need with capacity.

Any Environmental Assessment must examine the complete airspace, airport capacity and future needs within a 150-kilometre radius of Pickering.

• The evolving nature of the airport industry as experienced at Mirabel requires a broader examination of all issues including future trends in aircraft development and impact on airport traffic patterns. 

• Mirabel was rendered useless because technology allowed this location to be over flown by the time it was constructed.  The advent of the Airbus super plane can have the same impact on Pickering and Pearson.

Alternatives to building a new facility were never examined as part of the process.

• Maintaining payments to Buttonville to keep it open never discussed.

• Markham airport never contacted until after the release date.

• Oshawa will not close if Pickering does not open.

• Hamilton Airports willingness to take on excess traffic from Pearson was never truly acknowledged.

• Utilization of Kitchener Waterloo Regional Reliever Airport was not even considered.

The airport proposal as put forward by the GTAA does not reflect the stand alone proposal that the Former Minister of Transport promised in fact the Pickering Proposal can never be profitable on a stand alone basis according to the GTAA Financial Feasibility Assessment (FAA).

• In the FAA the GTAA outlines that until the Pickering site obtains profitability Pearson will accept no payment of the debt accumulated to build it. In this fashion every passenger at Pearson will be taxed via the AFT until 2025 at the earliest.  This kind of cross subsidization of a facility by unknowing travelers who have no alternative to the GTAA monopoly is an unfair tax and violates the principles of taxation. The GTAA is already Billions of dollars in Debt....

THE GTAA JUST WANTS THE LAND, WHETHER OR NOT NEED EXISTS. LETS NOT LET THEM HAVE IT!!