Madam Speaker, it is an honour to rise to present a petition on behalf of neighbours in Kitchener Centre. They note, first of all, that their quality of life is being negatively affected by a high frequency of air traffic occurring near residential areas, and this is related to stress and interrupted sleep. They note there is a need for greater co-operation on the part of airport management with citizens and federal authorities to reduce the negative impacts of aircraft noise.
The Region of Waterloo International Airport is home to one of the largest and busiest flight training schools in Canada, and its total air traffic, the petitioners note, has increased by over 1,400% between 2019 and 2022, making it now the sixth busiest in Canada. They note that the negative impacts for residents near this airport have worsened significantly over this time, given the fact that the airport, for example, does not have any nighttime flight restrictions or curfews in place, among a number of other items. They also note that Canada's other busiest airports in residential areas, in places such as Edmonton, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal, are all subject to heightened noise management requirements, and air traffic and runway restrictions.
In light of all of this, the petitioners are calling upon the Minister of Transport to first ensure that all Canadian airports near residential areas have established sufficient airport-specific noise-abatement procedures and control requirements to meet all of their obligations under the Canadian aviation regulations and, secondly, to assess whether any other Canadian airports near residential areas should be subjected to additional noise management requirements and restrictions, such as the requirement to develop a minister-approved noise management plan and report publicly on these plans, heightened noise-abatement procedures, and operating restrictions for designated noise-restricted runways.