Toronto's medical officer of health is being tasked with studying the health impacts of expanding Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, as the Ford government pushes ahead with plans to enlarge the downtown island airport.
The Toronto Board of Health voted at its Monday meeting to have Dr. Michelle Murti examine the effects of the proposed expansion, alongside Health Canada, with a particular focus on lung and heart disease.
"We're trying to understand to what degree health impact is going to have," Murti said at the meeting.
The province wants to expand Billy Bishop to accommodate larger planes, arguing the project would deliver a major economic boost. During its spring sitting, the Ford government passed a law taking control of the City of Toronto's role in running the airport and granting itself expropriation powers over large parts of Toronto Island.
The province also plans to designate the area a special economic zone, which would allow it to bypass provincial and municipal laws to speed up construction. Ontario did not hold public consultations on the expansion, but Premier Doug Ford has said internal polling showed more than 70 per cent support for it.
Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria has defended the project as a nation-building measure aimed at countering economic disruption from the United States. "Leaders across this country are talking about nation-building projects," he said in June, adding that the airport "will help support that and continue to improve our competitiveness across the world."
At Monday's board meeting, experts and residents warned of potential health consequences from a busier airport, with some raising concerns about air quality, ADHD and memory issues.
Existing research has already flagged concerns near the airport. A recent study found ultrafine particulates linked to various diseases are already a problem in the surrounding community.
"When we did our study, we could see a rise of ultrafine particles for each flight when wind was blowing from the airport to the community," Greg Evans, a professor of engineering at the University of Toronto, told Global News.
Downtown councillors say they are also hearing directly from constituents who oppose the expansion.
"They're saying, 'Councillor, stand up and say to the province and the federal government we don't want this expansion,'" said Coun. Chris Moise, who chairs the Toronto Board of Health.
The board's request for a formal health study adds a new front to the fight over the airport's future, pitting the province's economic case against local concerns about noise, air pollution and the health of residents living under the flight path.
A timeline for Murti's study has not been publicly laid out. Health Canada's involvement in reviewing the expansion has not been independently detailed beyond the board's request.
