Eugene

[Rob Oliphant @Rob_Oliphant]

Simply put: there are too many unknowns to make an informed decision on an expansion of Billy Bishop.

Before considering expansion, we will need a clear, evidence-based business case; comprehensive consultations with the people of Toronto; and guaranteed protection of the surrounding environment.

With declining ridership at Billy Bishop, expanding Toronto Pearson through Pearson LIFT makes more sense than the current Billy Bishop proposal.

[UrbanToronto @Urban_Toronto]

Toronto City Council has approved updated Official Plan and Zoning By-law Amendments alongside a revised Precinct Plan for Ookwemin Minising in the Port Lands. The revised framework would introduce 12,370 homes, heights up to 46 storeys, expanded affordable housing, and a waterfront community tied to the planned Waterfront East LRT. Learn more here: https://t.co/BwWVjqB1op

#Toronto #planning #development

[Timothy Gray @CanadaGray]

This is the new city threatened by the proposed massive expansion and jetification of Toronto Island Airport. Ask your federal MP and @MarkJCarney to not reverse the ban on jets. #cdnpoli #TOpoli #SaveourWaterfront

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

Thank you, Prime Minister @MarkJCarney!

This new Nature Strategy protecting 2,400,000 km of lands and oceans is wonderful to hear. (Truly.)

Can you extend it to 2,400,000.9 km to prevent the 900m runway extension Premier @fordnation is proposing to pave into Lake Ontario? (1)

I have mailed you a letter on this topic. (2)

I have not heard back.

I have posted my letter online and it has now been read and shared by over 600,000 people. (3)

I have not heard back.

I have turned the letter into a petition which has over 2500 signatories. (4)

I have emailed my MP Danielle Martin (LIB) (@docdanielle) three times to ask her to receive or share my petition with you. (5)

I have not heard back.

I have phoned MP Danielle Martin's office three times.

Her public listed phone number is out of service. (6)

We are very grateful you are protecting 2,400,000 km or lands and oceans.

Please extend this to 2,400,000.9 km

It is not too late. Please help.

Thank you,

Neil

(1) https://t.co/KdZi8YmE1w
(2) https://t.co/A4CWjWckx9
(3) https://t.co/GhlJUNckL9
(4) https://t.co/8v0j9EEZaO
(5) I emailed both [email protected] and
[email protected] on April 27, April 30, and May 3, 2026
(6) https://t.co/AXfl9eLZLw

CC: Minister of Transport @stevenmackinnon, Minister of Environment @juliedabrusin, MP @Rob_Oliphant @globeandmail @TorontoStar @blogTO @ElizabethMay

[Eugene @epoon01]

@evanrawal Please, for the love of god, not another Edmonton-LA first round series again. For the love of all that’s holy, not again.

[Eugene @epoon01]

@RyanSkalla @evanrawal Lol another Edmonton-LA first round series is the last thing anyone wants.

[Neil Pasricha @NeilPasricha]

Dear Prime Minister Mark Carney (@markjcarney),

I was on the Toronto Ferry last year staring at our majestic waterfront.

I saw paddlers, kayakers, dragon boaters, sailors, windsurfers, fishers, paddleboarders, water taxis, and cruisers all sharing the space in harmony.

When we docked at Hanlan’s Point on the Toronto Islands I was surrounded by hikers, joggers, cyclists, birders, picnickers, swimmers, photographers, beachgoers, frisbee golfers, naturalists, and thousands of tourists and locals enjoying this lush ecological paradise surrounded by our sparkling freshwater lake.

Please don’t destroy this by paving Lake Ontario.

Three weeks ago Ontario Premier Doug Ford (@fordnation) announced he will "seize" Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport (YTZ) in order to expand runways into Lake Ontario (1), bring in jets against the legal contracts governing the airport (2), and nix 14,000 mixed-use homes slated to go up on the shore (which taxpayers have already spent $1.4B developing). (3,4)

Although this decision is not his to make — Billy Bishop is governed by the City of Toronto and the federal government (5) — Premier Ford says he will overrule the City to "bring in jets one way or another." (6,7)

Premier Ford says he has the "full support" of your federal government to do this. (8)

Prime Minister Carney:

It is not too late.

Please say no to expanding Billy Bishop airport into the lake.

We don’t need this, we don’t want this, and we can’t afford this.

We don’t need this.

We can already go anywhere we want to go.

I live right in downtown Toronto.

I can be anywhere I want in the world, tomorrow.

I can walk to bus, subway, streetcar, and UP express stations from my house and I fly 40x per year.

In the past year I have been to over 35 airports on 3 continents and YYZ is one of the absolute best. In fact, in the past month it has won "Best Airport Staff in North America" (9), been ranked 4th in all of the Americas in efficiency (out of 50 airports) (10), and won Best Large Airport on the entire continent (an award it's won eight times in nine years.) (11)

Right this second, checking Uber, I can get from my house by car to Toronto’s Pearson International Airport (YYZ) in 21 mins and to Toronto’s Billy Bishop Island Airport (YTZ) in 14 mins.

Right this second, if someone at Union Station wanted to get to YYZ on public transit it would take 28 minutes (UP Express) and to YTZ would take 22 minutes (TTC streetcar).

We are talking about a 6 minute time savings here.

If we want to serve southwestern Ontario’s population with expanded jet service we simply need to use the 7000m of existing, high-capacity, under-utilized jet runways within 2 hours of Toronto at Hamilton (@flyYHM ), Waterloo (@flyYKF), and London (@flyYXU) versus entertaining a "special economic zone" to force a jet-strip into the most environmentally sensitive and densely populated waterfront in the country.

We don’t want this.

This tiny speck of ecological paradise provides critical respite from our dense and urban concrete jungle and is vital for mental health, community, and happiness.

Over 400 peer-reviewed studies show urban forests and parks mitigate depression and anxiety and enhance overall mental well-being. (12)

I know you agree because four days ago on March 31, 2026 you announced your "Force of Nature" strategy with the vision of "protecting, restoring, and valuing nature." This wonderful program declares a federal investment of $3.8 billion dollars into "protecting critical habitats and aligning industrial strategies with biodiversity conservation." (13, 14, 15)

Also, I looked into the runway expansion into the lake that Premier Ford has promised.

Right now the shortest jet runway in Canada is 1832m (YHM Hamilton, ON) and the shortest jet runway in the world is 1508m (LCY London City Airport, UK). There are also new Canadian Aviation Regulations (RESA) stating all runways need to add 150m on each end for safety. (16, 17, 18)

Today the Billy Bishop runway is 1216m. (19)

Even the most conservative assumption — building the shortest jet runway in the entire world! — still requires a minimum of 600m more runway to land jets.

Here is a current aerial view of Billy Bishop Airport. (Photo 1 / attached)

Here is an aerial view of Billy Bishop Airport with the smallest possible runway extension of 600m added. (Photo 2 / attached)

(Of course this photo doesn’t include additional parking, hangers, gates, aprons, tarmacs, fueling stations, de-icing stations, blast fences, control towers, baggage carousels, taxi pickups … )

We can’t afford this.

Premier Ford was first elected in 2018 as the right wing candidate (PC) with 40.5% of the vote (left wing side of NDP and Liberal was 53.2%) and campaigned as a fiscal conservative. (FN) He attacked the Liberals for their $6.7B deficit and vowed a "return to balanced budgets" that would "begin in 2019." (20, 21)

Since then Premier Ford has won two more elections — with a nearly identical right / left vote split and record lows in voter turnout — and has now presided over 8 budgets. (22, 23)

In order from 2019 to 2026 those eight budgets have been for *deficits* of $8.7B, $16.4B, $13.5B, $5.9B, $5.6, $1.1B, $12.3B, and, most recently, just announced last week on March 26, 2026, coming in at a 77% increase on his own 2025 forecasts, $13.8B. (24, 25)

Since Premier Ford was elected he has *increased* Ontario’s debt from $338B to $485B. Ontario now pays $17.2B a year … just in interest payments. (26, 27, 28)

Notably, Premier Ford’s most recent $13.8B deficit budget does not include any money for the projected $1-2B cost of expanding Billy Bishop airport.

(Prime Minister, you and Premier Ford are both 61 and have a seemingly warm relationship despite wildly different education and business paths. (29, 30, 31, 32) Might you have time for some evening finance tutorials?)

Prime Minister Carney:

We don’t need this, we don’t want this, we can’t afford this.

Please say no to this expansion plan.

Please allow the legal agreements governing the airport to remain in the hands of those who legally own it — the City of Toronto and the federal government — and not with Premier Ford’s provincial government who is attempting to autocratically rule something in which it has no stake.

At the Junos six days ago on March 29, 2026 you praised 82-year-old @jonimitchell and justifiably called her "one of the greatest artists of all time." (33)

Joni warned us about "paving paradise to put up a parking lot" and now that’s exactly what Premier Ford is proposing we do.

The Toronto Harbour, Toronto Harbourfront, and Toronto Islands are a crown jewel for the functioning of our great city, our great province, and our great country.

Would New York City pave over Central Park?

Would Paris put runways on the Seine?

We absolutely should not pave the paradise of Lake Ontario to put up runways and parking lots we don’t need, don’t want, and can’t afford.

It's not too late.

Please say no.

Thank you,

Neil Pasricha

//

(1) https://t.co/lgQ5WdNcwV
https://t.co/A74NIBBFil
(2) https://t.co/B3ujtqHAxs
(3) https://t.co/Heig4pdd1T
(4) https://t.co/iQuAopsifd
(5) https://t.co/Daj6zWY9mC
(6) https://t.co/AgBbiwy2R9
(7) https://t.co/QFNa94c4sn
https://t.co/3O9To68MN1
https://t.co/QFNa94c4sn
(8) https://t.co/3O9To68MN1
(9) https://t.co/I3kBjq6thM
(10) https://t.co/kgRl5vJV8W
(11) https://t.co/8stbfkcmcm
(12) https://t.co/VJiYAGJ9JJ
(13) https://t.co/7ZiPrHlVxa
(14) https://t.co/dqg5ldemUZ
(15) https://t.co/ytJ0iv8ymB
(16) https://t.co/jwQm4JzTUN
(17) https://t.co/LMheI43DKb
https://t.co/8YX8IF1gqi
(18) https://t.co/Ci7qMEMpMw
(19) https://t.co/KmhPvr48Ir
(20) https://t.co/PCk3ah5cR0
(21) https://t.co/ZuviVaCKVF
(22) https://t.co/xSk5kvX4Ym
(23) https://t.co/DwJHjj05BY
(24) https://t.co/JVmlSC4Y1z
(25) https://t.co/NXBsJyGS8g
(26) https://t.co/e2kIIzuMsy
(27) https://t.co/jKAUVglOoB
(28) https://t.co/08PLVXXUJI
(29) https://t.co/doLO2tbShf
(30) https://t.co/r98N6I0ahT
(31) https://t.co/LcMIgaigwB
(32) https://t.co/y0wFa9L42e
(33) https://t.co/HvMafmRLtK
//

CC: Minister of Transport @SteveMcKinnon, Minister of Environment @JulieDabrusin, Mayor of Toronto @OliviaChow, MP @RunChiNguyenRun, MP @J_Maloney, MP @JulieDzerowicz, MP @Coteau, MP @Rob_Oliphant, MP @Vgasparro, MP @Yvan_Baker, MP @Jzerucelli, Ontario Minister of Transportation @PrabSarkaria, Ontario Minister of Infrastructure @KingaSurmaMPP, @PortsToronto, MPP @MaritStiles, MPP @JessicaBellTO, MPP @ChrisGlover, Councillor @BravoDavenport, Councillor @DianneSaxxe, Candidate @Massey_Toronto, @Nieuport, @JenniferQuinnTO, @Envirodefense, @BirdsCanada, @NoJetsTo, @CycleTO, @TheGlobeAndMail, @TorontoStar, @CBCToronto, @TheCurrentCBC, @BlogTO

[Eugene @epoon01]

@evanrawal Uhh is that Kelly on the top line? Good lord they’re screwed.

[Eugene @epoon01]

@cmasisak22 Genuine question: did Roy get held by Walman right before he took the high sticking penalty? TNT has done a terrible job with showing replays.

[Eugene @epoon01]

@evanrawal I get the high sticking call, but didn’t it look like Walman was holding or hooking Roy, which led to the high stick?

[Eugene @epoon01]

@evanrawal Is this open to the public?

[Eugene @epoon01]

@cmasisak22 Serious question, but why don’t the Avs try that? Seems simple enough to implement.

[Eugene @epoon01]

@guerillasports @jessemontano Thanks for doing this! 🙏

[Eugene @epoon01]

@jessemontano @guerillasports How do you think the Avs will match up in the playoffs against Dallas again? Still seems like the same problem of dominating at 5V5 but can’t capitalize on the PP, which is a problem when they have Oettinger playing well.

[Eugene @epoon01]

@evanrawal Might be a good opportunity to give Landeskog a break.

[Eugene @epoon01]

@evanrawal I wish Bednar would start PP2 more often. It gives the opposing team a different look and matches up the top PP against the opponent’s PK2.

[Eugene @epoon01]

@Brock_Seguin @DFOFantasy A while ago you posted a similar ranking that had DAL and LA at the top. Can you clarify why this ranking is so different?

[Eugene @epoon01]

@evanrawal Have you heard any internal concerns from the team about Nichuskin rehabbing his injury but also making sure he fulfills his PA program requirements? Is there worry about a repeat of last year?

[Eugene @epoon01]

@evanrawal Feels like a matchup against Dallas in the first or second round is inevitable. Assuming the Avs are fully healthy, do you think they can get past the Stars this year?

[Eugene @epoon01]

@evanrawal How does this square with the news about Blackwood’s extension?