To:	Lisa Raitt, CEO Toronto Port Authority
Cc:	Councillor Chow
From:	Allan Sparrow, Outreach Coordinator, CommunityAIR (Airport Impact Review)
Date:	30 September 2003

Dear Ms. Raitt,

This is further to my communication to you of 15 September 2003, in respect to the 2nd draft of the TPA's current EA regarding the Toronto Island Airport. In that letter, one of the points CommunityAIR made was that the TPA had not responded to the concerns raised by Toronto's Medical Officer of Health (MoH), regarding environmental problems and health risks, associated with the TPA plan to build a bridge to Toronto Island, as part of the TPA's scheme to dramatically increase commercial passenger service from this sensitively located site.

You are aware of the MoH's concerns, since you and your colleagues were fully cognizant of her letters of concern, when Toronto City Council dealt with the issue several months ago.

Nonetheless, we have seen no evidence in your current draft EA of the TPA dealing directly with the concerns expressed by the MoH. Quite the contrary. In the TPA's "final" EA draft, on page 4 of Appendix I: Public Comments and Responses, when the issue is raised on the need for the TPA to respond to the MoH's concerns, the TPA dismissive response is "Comment noted". We can find no description of the MoH concerns, nor any direct responses to them, in any of the TPA EA documents. We are very concerned that the TPA and its consultants, in the current EA, appear to have effectively suppressed the pivotal concerns of the MoH, the most important public official responsible for the health of Torontonians. This serious omission must be corrected.

Attached to this letter are the two MoH reports in question; one dated March 24, 2002 and the other November 14, 2002.

We request that these two letters be added to the current EA documentation and be referenced in the body of the report and that the TPA undertake to take open and transparent steps to respond, in detail, to the MoH concerns. Given the already public dismissal of the MoH concerns by the TPA and your current consultants, we further ask that the TPA consult with the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency (CEAA) and request that they arrange for an independent third party to be retained to consult with the MoH and to respond to the MoH concerns and that the resulting report be made available for public comment and input.

Sincerely,

Allan Sparrow