Mr. Speaker, for more than three decades the residents of Ajax--Pickering have been living with a dark cloud over their heads, a proposed international airport in Pickering. This cloud grew darker in November 2004 when the Greater Toronto Airport Authority, or GTAA, released a plan to break ground on an airport by 2014.
The deeply flawed GTAA proposal was heavily criticized by the community, transportation experts and myself. It led the former Liberal transport minister to announce a due diligence peer review. The announcement was welcome news to our community which is anxious to avoid another Mirabel and wishes to ensure that the existing infrastructure is fully utilized.
The current transport minister has agreed to continue this review, but there is concern over the terms of reference. If we do not ask the right questions, we will not get the right answers. I have urged that the community be consulted both on the terms of reference and during the review itself. It now appears this will not happen. That is simply unacceptable.
I urge the minister to stand by the commitments of the former minister, conduct a full and fair review, and engage our community fully in the process.