Toronto Island Park is a place for relaxation and recreation, not a busy airport.

The final line of the chorus of the Sandbar Sister’s airport song ends: “Shut that island airport down.” That is meant literally. It is now time to close the island airport.

The chief reason we want the island airport closed is its location. This airport is ruining Toronto’s waterfront, the greatest natural feature of our city. It is polluting our air, creating unnecessary safety problems and deteriorating the quality of life for thousands of people. There is a simple solution. The island airport must be closed and the companies using it moved to other airports in the region.

Pearson International Airport has capacity to handle 55 million passengers a year, but in 2006 the airport only flew 29.9 million passengers. Pearson has recently completed a $4.4 billion construction program. It has been built with the best safety provisions in the country. The runways are long enough to handle the Q400, there are no high-rise buildings presenting hazards, and if there is a problem, the airport has safety crews that can deal with the emergency.

Volleyball at Hanlan's Point. The airport, just across the wire fence, disturbs the beauty and tranquility of the park.

Hamilton’s John C. Munro International Airport also has excess capacity. The municipality and the airport managers are aggressively trying to expand the numbers of passengers and the amount of cargo the airport handles. Munro has long runways and its new passenger terminals can easily handle the traffic generated by Porter Airlines.

Air ambulance and medical transfer services can be moved north of the city where they will be closer to the patients that need their services.

Private planes can be relocated to Buttonville, Hamilton or other smaller airfields in the region.

And finally, the air school at the island airport must be moved well out of the city, where training flights will no longer endanger to the thousands of people who live and work in the high-rise towers in close range of the airport.

Mike Ford graciously donated his services for a fundraising benefit in 2007.

Mike Ford (ex of Moxy Fruvous) was inspired by Jerry Englar's wind park, to write his Island Song.

THE ISLAND
(words & music Mike Ford SOCAN 2007)

The wind that turns the windmill blades
To light the water’s edge soirees
The panels catch the solar rays, the island

The marsh beside the new lagoon
Where we can lose an afternoon
Behind the stretch of sand and dune, the island

A harbour jewel for us to share
Feel the breeze and breathe the air
Imagination soaring where
There used to be an Airport

The haze that hung is there no more
And gone the turbo engine roar
They found another reason for the island

A speedy flight’s an easy sell
But is that really living well
Soaring through the air propelled
By what we strip the planet bare for

The age of rail came back again
Round about Two-Thousand-Ten
It helped the city to befriend the island

We watch the sails against the blue
And take it down a notch or two
Then bid the setting sun adieu, the island

 

Kathleen McDonnell, a Community Air Member and muscian, wrote this catchy anti-airport song:

SHUT THAT AIRPORT DOWN
(tune: John Fogerty / lyrics: Kathleen McDonnell)

I see an airport by the water
I small toxins in the air
I hear the roaring of propellers
Noise, pollution everywhere

CHORUS:
Don’t get on that plane
Better take the train
That’s the way to get around
We know what to do
To cut our CO2
Shut that island airport down

People come down to the water
(to) Enjoy the flowers, birds and trees
People should not be subjected
(to) Airplanes poisoning the breeze

CHORUS

We want air that fit for breathing
We want a lake that blue and clean
We want a park that’s fit for strolling
We want a waterfront that’s green

CHORUS