PICKERING, Ont. -- A new airport will be landing east of Toronto in an area of green space that will also house a national park.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the 75-square-kilometre Pickering Lands area that Ottawa acquired back in 1972 will be the site of the future airport.
A Transport Canada study from 2011 indicated the busy Greater Toronto Area would need another airport by 2027 at the earliest, as the Buttonville airport closes and Highway 407 expands eastward.
In addition to the new transportation hub, nearly 20 square kilometres of green space is being parcelled out for the Rouge National Urban Park -- which with the new land will be 13 times the size of Vancouver's scenic Stanley Park.
Additional land will also be set aside for economic development, and Flaherty says Ottawa will consult with community and business groups to figure out what to build.
Residents who live near the proposed airport site in north Pickering have fought plans for an airport for years over concerns about noise, pollution and a decline in property values.
"As we protect land for a future airport, a considerable tract of land will also be made available for job-creating development that will bring new opportunities to Pickering and Durham Region," Flaherty, the cabinet minister responsible for the Greater Toronto Area, said in his announcement on Tuesday.
Pickering Mayor David Ryan is behind the plan, despite the long-standing local opposition.
"It's 41 years later. The GTA has grown. Pickering has grown. The demand is here," he said.
Parks Canada will take over land for the national park from Transport Canada, with the transfer paperwork expected to be completed by summer of next year.
