Morning Brew: June 28, 2006

Not just any airline. It's the one owned by Rob Deluce and Larry Tannenbaum (among others). Deluce is the dude that threatened to sue the city for a bajillion dollars (ajusted for inflation).

Air Canada have already tried to halt Deluce twice (with the jets application the day before the last mayoral election and the complaint when Deluce's airport operations company closed the second terminal in order to refurbish it for Porter Airlines and Air Canada Jazz couldn't agree to use the TPA terminal).

Funny how since Air Canada pulled their flights how the city hasn't been resounding with cheers for how much quieter it is - maybe because in the scheme of things a limited number of turboprop flights really makes no difference compared to the 747s heading into Pearson and the thousands of vehicles on the Gardiner. Expanding GO Transit would do more for a quieter waterfront than closing the airport ever will.

Deluce's Toronto-built aircraft are faster and carry twice as many passengers as AC-Jazz so one can hope that Air Canada will in turn upgrade their fleet and preserve jobs at Bombardier Downsview. But unfortunately the Community Air supporters who are listed as political contributors to Mayor Miller's 2003 campaign won't be pleased.

An unfair parting shot there, Mark. You are insinuating that Miller is beholden to Community Air. Isn't just as likely that Community Air members are sympathetic to Miller's stance on the TCCA? In fact, isn't that the case for all political contributions? You certainly wouldn't contribute to a cause you disagree with.

Michael: Not really - at the end of the day there's a reason for the demand that political contributions be public (like the case of "Youth for Volpe"). If money changes hands (legally) between a public figure and some members of a lobby group, some of these same contributors being personally named in the TPA's lawsuit against Community Air, then it's still worth noting.

Both the lawsuit and Miller's 2003 contributors are available online if you google around. Personally I think the lawsuit is a mistake which will do TPA more harm than good but reading the supporting materials I guess I'd feel litigious if I had Community Air's "publicity" targeted against me.

I find it so odd that Richard Daley's actions in bulldozing Meigs Field are so lionised in Toronto. He left aircraft owners stranded (they had to get special FAA permission to depart using a taxiway) and led to the FAA fining the City the maximum allowable penalty because the City did not give notice of its intentions. CBS Chicago reported in Nov 2005 that the decades of airport operations will mean that converting Meigs to a park is going to cost a fortune - certainly more than David Miller's toonie (again).
http://cbs2chicago.com/video/?id=17976@wbbm.dayport.com&cid=8

The end did not justify the means - if Lastman had the power to bulldoze things he didn't like we would have been rightly screwed.

btw - I don't work for TPA, Porter or any other connected parties in case anyone is wondering.

Really Jane? Not a single one?

NYC has about 8 million people & counts 30,000 homeless while Toronto has 4.5 million & we counted 5,000 homeless, so they're out there.

Or was your point just that NYC is better at hiding them?

The 5,000 homeless figure is bogus. We know this for two reasons -

1. Cathy Crowe says so.

2. Cathy Crowe told the homeless and people who work with them not to co-operate with them.

So now the beancounters at City Hall can budget for fewer homeless than there are and the resultant service cuts will mean OCAP and TDRC will go ballistic. Nice going.

Miller and Pitfield - a city of 3 million and this is the best we can do? But then the US has 300 million and when they get it down to two contenders the choice is frequently worse...