Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the Minister of Transport I would like to respond to the question from my hon. colleague, the member for Mississauga West.
Let me first assure my colleague that she can reassure the residents of Mississauga that when the new north-south runway is completed at Pearson it will be used primarily for landings. In recognition of the concerns of the residents living near the airport about noise I want to reiterate that the new runway will only be used 5 per cent of the time when severe cross winds make landings on the two east-west runways unsafe.
The only time the new north-south runway would be used for take-offs would be on those extremely rare occasions when, combined with adverse weather conditions, the existing north-south runway is unavailable due to emergency or repairs. On these occasions only take-offs toward the north following the established departure path of the existing north-south runway would be permitted.
The minister wants to assure the member and her constituents that absolutely no decision will be taken on the matter of additional east-west runways until the Canadian airport authority is in place and functioning at Pearson International Airport. In any event it is anticipated that the additional east-west runways would not be constructed until traffic warrants it. This is not expected to happen until the turn of the century.
One of our colleagues from the Reform Party has said that we do not intend to move on the new Canadian airport authorities for Pearson until 1998. Nothing could be further from the truth.
As the minister has made very clear we will be moving to establish CAAs at many airports as soon as the communities involved identify their representatives and pass the necessary local resolutions which is indeed the case for Pearson. There is no question about waiting until 1998.
The fact is that the local municipalities have named their representatives and the minister has indicated that we will proceed with all that needs to be done at Pearson. The only logical option though is to work with these representatives in an advisory capacity for the time being.
We will move to activate a Canadian airport authority which we believe is in the best interests of the Canadian public as soon as the Senate puts the interest of the taxpayer ahead of its rhetoric.