Land long reserved for possible Pickering airport will go to Parks Canada: minister

After a half century in limbo, the federal government says it will scrap plans to build an airport on thousands of acres in Pickering, Ont., and instead look to transfer the land to Parks Canada. The Peace Tower is seen on Parliament Hill, Tuesday, Dec.17, 2024 in Ottawa. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

After half a century in limbo, the federal government says it will scrap plans to build an airport on thousands of acres in Pickering, Ont., and instead look to transfer the land to Parks Canada.

The government acquired the land northeast of Toronto for an airport in 1972 but put those plans on hold three years later in favour of expanding Ontario’s already-built airports.

In the past decade, the government has transferred more than half the land to Parks Canada for the creation and then the expansion of Rouge National Urban Park.

But Transport Canada was still hanging on to about 8,700 acres of the land for a potential future airport.

In a news release today, Transport Minister Anita Anand says the government determined that a new airport “is not the best use” of the federal Pickering lands.

The government says consultations will be held with the public and Indigenous communities, along with the residential, farm and commercial tenants who have since leased the federal lands.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 27, 2025.