Talk:PortsToronto

message: Curious how the Toronto Port Authority employees can spend their working time "sanitising" the article on the TPA in Wikipedia. 
Have a look at the following links, note the user name of the person making the edits and compare to the following info from the TPA website.
Trying to revert boosterism edit by TPA employee
Boosterism edit by User:kdickson
Keith Dickson, 
Systems Manager, Information Technology
  
(Contact information removed.  It's just unwiki to list a user's phone number and email address, especially as part of a dispute. - BanyanTree 14:40, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I rather think that it is unfortunate that you want to identify individual authors. ID'ing authors, even POV-pushers, is not on. - Ta bu shi da yu 13:53, 3 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Toronto Port Authority employees "sanitising" the article

message: Responses to this personal attack can be found on the above author's discussion page.(Dabbler)I can confirm that the use of TPA material from www.torontoport.com is permitted by the relevant TPA authorities.Kdickson 03:31, 16 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Response

message: Kdickson and Themepark
How about you two agree to take a holiday from this frenzy of activity? It's getting really annoying. Dowlingm 18:27, 20 February 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Edit war

message: I thank you for your neutrality Dowlingm. I heartily agree to remove or allow edits of any article I may contribute to the Toronto Port Authority page if any inaccuracy surfaces or a non-neutral point of view is displayed. Unfortunately Themepark's agenda seems to be to discredit the Port Authority at any cost, including the truth. I have asked several times for any verification that can be supplied for some of his edits. He refuses to comply. If anyone seeks verification of the data in any of my edits I will be most happy to provide them. The Port Authority in Toronto has been around in one form or another for over 200 years, it will exist long after any of us retire. My concern is not for the survival of the Port Authority, it for the truth. Too many people have perpetuated untruths about the Toronto Port Authority for too many years. Inaccurate information must be corrected. I do not do this as a representative of the Port Authority. I do this as my small contribution to the honour of the good people serving Canada through the Toronto Port Authority. Kdickson
Unfortunately, the TPA doesn't serve the people of Canada, it only serves itself. Atrian 04:59, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Verifiable Data

message: There seems to be some issues concerning who is correct on this page. It seems that Kdickson is biased towards the Toronto Port Authority, Themepark and a few others are biased against it, especially in the section on "Controversies". To me it doesn't seem fair to remove a complete section just because you disagree with it. I think everybody should just take a pill and calm down. So I am labelling this article in dispute until somebody can rule one way or the other. Bombycil 07:26, 7 March 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  POV 

message: It points out a number of errors:
http://www.canadafreepress.com/2006/reid050306.htm -- (unsigned comment by 70.130.150.31)
:That's true. This article makes Wikipedia look bad. I fixed one of the factual errors earlier this week but there are others which need to be addressed. The trouble is that since this article apparently deals with a controversial topic all factual changes need references or citations. -- Derek Ross | Talk 14:50, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I would like to point out that the journalist who wrote this article shows obvious (if not overt) bias towards the TPA. I would take anything he says with a grain of salt. Atrian 15:10, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

text: Maybe so. Journalists tend to be pro or anti. What's important is not which side of the fence he has chosen; it's whether what he says is true or not. If he says that there are errors in the article, we can and should check the errors he mentions. If he's spinning a line, we'll soon know. -- Derek Ross | Talk 17:56, 8 May 2006 (UTC)

text: Thanks, KD. One improvement that springs to mind: I know that there is some dispute on how "important" the port is in terms of cargo. In order to give a fair picture I think that it would be worthwhile including the tonnage figures and the dollar value for cargo in 2005 rather than just stating that the tonnage is "not as great as many other ports" and has "increased by 28% since 1999". Would that be possible ? -- Derek Ross | Talk 20:43, 8 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  News article about this Wikipedia entry 

message: I've found StatCan links to domestic and international tonnage by port. These tables are only for Ontario; there is a national ranking, too (Toronto is 39th). Other tables can be found here. (I don't have the time to make the edits myself right now.) By tonnage, it's clear that Toronto is a small port. Mindmatrix 14:00, 9 May 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Shipping and tonnage info

message: It seems weird to see so many quotations from David Miller in this article.  Since he's not a neutral player in this, his words shouldn't be treated as NPOV "facts". -- Writen by K. Dickson - a Toronto Port Authority Employee. 
I agree with this article, however, I did not write it. Thanks to the author .Kdickson 14:51, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Extensive quotations from politicians

message: K. Dickson is a Toronto Port Authority employee, it's against Wikipedia code of conduct for companies to edit their own pages - to maintain a POV.
To state categorically that my editing is against Wikipedia code of conduct is itself an untruth and a non-neutral POV. As long as you distort the truth to further your own personal interests at the expense of the public's interests, I will continue to edit this article. Kdickson 14:35, 3 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Reminder of Wikipedia rules

message: The article currently states "The terminal will continue to be used as a docking station for Great Lakes cruise ships.". Does anyone know if the terminal was used for this purpose in 2006? Atrian 16:00, 24 October 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ferry terminal 2006 use 

message: My apologies for failing to login before my last spate of editing. Recent edits with an IP address of 204.50.185.67 are mine. Kdickson 18:36, 3 November 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: signature error

message: Alaney2k you have spent an incredible amount of time and effort editing this article, you have rewritten a document authored by more than a dozen people. Unfortunately your political slant is showing through and you seem determined to denigrate the Port Authority at the cost of your integrity. You incessantly repeat and move to the forefront statements that have been disproven time and time again through endless government investigations, audits and court judgements. You are an extremely good writer and should be well aware of the slant your rewrite has taken. Wikipedia does not have any rules about whitewashing, it does have rules about obtaining consensus and maintaining a neutral point of view. Your writing has gone past the NPOV status and your complete rewrite of everyone elses entries has removed that hard fought consensus.If you wish to make changes, do so as part of the team, regardless of which side you are on. You are not the historian for the Toronto Port Authority and there are facts others know that you do not. If you continue on this path the article will again be marked as disputed and locked. Kdickson (talk) 13:59, 15 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I'm not a member of any political party. I do live in Toronto. I see the TPA in the newspapers every month, it seems. About you, if you want to rewrite, that's part of Wikipedia. But don't just delete the matters of public record. I have tried to put cites to everything I have added. Most of the Creation part, which you seem to object to, is from the Tasse report. The rest of the controversies are a matter of public record. As mentioned above on this article, you are not supposed to be editing the article. Mostly, you seem to want to push the company line. Take a look at the Nestle article if you want to see a company with a bad corporate record, in the chocolate business. I have tried to make the TPA article complete, nothing more. Maybe we differ on the meaning of the word controversy, but if you are involved in lawsuits, have community groups against you, the toronto city council against you, well, the agency is going to be considered controversial. I moved the article around to put the controversy stuff lower in the article. This would be considered making it less prominent. I've mentioned in the lead that the TPA recently became profitable. If you have facts with cites, add them, don't just yank what you or the TPA doesn't like. Mark the article disputed or whatever, that's ok. I'd welcome a review of the article. Alaney2k (talk) 12:15, 16 August 2009 (UTC)

text: I am trying to make a timeline-based history section. The Creation section which you kept removing, is from the Tasse report. I've cited numerous pages. The creation with its reference to Mills, was pretty thin on the creation of the agency.
Some of the controversy section belongs in a history section, which at this point, is not complete. A timeline-based history section is normal for a company article. What is missing is what the TPA did after creation, (I think it did a review) and after the rochester ferry -- that is the 2006 porter launch. The controversy section could be then entitled 'Disputes' or something like that. I don't work for TPA so of course I am working from newspaper articles, press release and the like. There is room for TPA achievements in the article. However, coverage of the TPA has been mostly of the controversies. The TPA is pretty unique, created through politics and has been in several lawsuits in its time. Since the launch of the TPA, the City has not paid fees for the ferries and the TPA has not paid PILTs. And Jazz has a suit against the TPA. So I am not inventing the controversy surrounding the TPA. The TPA launched a lawsuit against the City for the portlands. The City opposed the creation of the TPA. These are facts based on cites. If you have positive, citeable facts about the activities of the TPA, they belong in the article. I have moved Operations and Governance to the beginning of the article. If I was a TPA-hater, I would not have done that. I expanded the lead according to guidelines to three paragraphs. It ends on a positive note that the TPA has achieved a profit. If I was a TPA-hater, I would not have done that.
Now, about myself. I am not a member of any party. I do live in Toronto in the Roncesvalles area. The airport bridge was an issue in our area. The local community associations came out against the bridge, as does our councillor. But I am not a member of an association. I have not used Porter, but I don't use airplanes much. My last flight was last century. I generally edit hockey articles, and Toronto neighbourhood articles.
My chief complaint about you is that you just yank stuff out. You don't edit. To me, that looks like white-washing. I think you are not serving the TPA's best interest. You should be citing more of what the TPA does. I don't know my way around all of Wikipedia's rules and procedures. There probably is a procedure to have a neutral editor look over what I've done. That is what I'd prefer rather than your blanket removals. And I hope you should consider that. You are certainly not a neutral observer here. I mean, between you and Robert Deluce, I don't think either of you can say "island airport". :-) (Really, I am looking for a cite with Deluce saying those words, but not luck yet :0-) ) I am trying to be a good writer, and I admit, I can write in a 'liberal' way, that may be objectionable to a conservative. But I try to follow the cites. I use TPA's releases, and the Tasse report to beef up the article. Those should not be a problem. Let the story tell itself.
I'd like to hear an explanation about what is wrong with what I wrote. I could go along with that. The article is not near finished, it's a 'C', so there is going to be stuff missing. There is no intent to give undue prominence to any section. We can work out a plan where the controversies are covered, and the TPA achievements are covered too. I'd prefer a timeline-based History section and a separate Disputes section. That would be most readable in my opinion. There is no reason to jump all over me. I don't work for Olivia Chow or Adam Vaughan or Miller. Those people oppose the TPA out and out. Me, I'm trying to understand. There is still a good article on the THC to be written and I'd like to do that. The THC did a lot of work on Sunnyside in my area, and that is covered in the Sunnyside, Toronto article. And the TPA sort of followed on in my interest. Alaney2k (talk) 05:42, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text:  --- That's in the History section. Not removed. Alaney2k (talk) 12:34, 1 September 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Whitewashing vs Politics 

message: I am a veteran editor of Wikipedia and am a member of both the Toronto and the disambiguation WikiProjects. I am prevented from disambiguating John Baird to John Baird (Canadian politician).  Johnny Au (talk/contributions) 15:16, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: The article is locked to only admin edits for a week by an admin. Alaney2k (talk) 16:06, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: I just posted that complaint to the administrator in question's talk page and disambiguated the link.  Johnny Au (talk/contributions) 19:13, 18 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Disambiguate [[John Baird]] 

message: It is contended that this article portrays an unfair and biased point of view of the Toronto Port Authority. Alaney2k (talk) 17:14, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: From what I can see the Djsasso revision is less pov than the  Kdickson one.  Neither is perfect.  Would suggest a compromise version incorporating the information from the KDickson revision blanked in the DJasso one but otherwise following the DJasso template.Simonm223 (talk) 17:59, 23 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks for looking it over. Yeah, it's not perfect. I've been trying to move it up in quality, following Wiki guidelines. The problem is that Kdickson objects to my creating a History section. The reversions he makes are basically to an old version, not edits to what I've been doing. I believe it was a mess before, and my intent is to be comprehensive and readable. I've tried not to put undue weight on the controversies. I've even moved the controversies section lower in the article. I think that a 'Controversies and disputes' section could hold the info on the ongoing lawsuits, while the parts about the airport, tasse review should be in the 'History' section. The History section would be chronological, and the Controversies, in alpha order. Alaney2k (talk) 14:26, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: So, to be clear, historical controversies would be in the History section and current controversies would be in a controversies section?  Watch to make sure you aren't giving undue weight to controversies but I don't see a problem in general terms.Simonm223 (talk) 14:51, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: At one point in the past, there was a separate creation section. I could revive that using the content of the Creation section of the History and put the airport and terminal back in the Controversies section. In company articles, do you separate controversies and company history? Alaney2k (talk) 15:08, 24 August 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Don't know.Simonm223 (talk) 15:39, 24 August 2009 (UTC)

text: Thanks for looking it over. That section has been around for a few years now. I moved it down in the page to counter some of that. I was thinking of moving the review to the History section. The review, other than being declared a 'whitewash' was not that much of a controversy. I think that the TPA has its standard critics who attack it at all times. I'm not sure how to cover that, for example the BoD conflict-of-interest, and not give it too much weight. Alaney2k (talk) 18:52, 29 August 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Rfc: Is this article POV and unfair to the Toronto Port Authority? 

message: Since its inception, the TPA has been involved in various disputes with the City of Toronto, Air Canada, Community Air and local community groups. These battles mostly are about the Island airport. In 2009, it became public knowledge that the directors of the agency were divided. Several of the dissident directors, appointed by the federal government, were replaced by new federal government appointees.
2009 Board of Directors dispute[edit]
In June 2009, it became public knowledge that four members (Mr. David Gurin, Mr. Chris Henley, Ms. Michele McCarthy and Mr. Doug Reid) of the TPA Board of Directors sent a letter in March 2009 to Minister of Transport John Baird on the topics of "Conflict of Interest, Expenses, Procurement policy, Information Flow, Audit Committee access, Board counsel termination and Illegal chair election" at the TPA, according to a June 8, 2009 press release from Board Chair Mark McQueen.[76] McQueen termed the letter as:
"nothing more than an effort by a disgruntled minority of our Board to smear the reputation of those members of the Board who support the existence of the Toronto City Centre Airport ("TCCA") and who voted in favour of a new, larger passenger ferry in January 2009"[76]
The press release was in response to Olivia Chow, MP for Trinity-Spadina, holding a press conference to release the letter, which Chow characterized as "explosive allegations of misconduct against some Toronto Port Authority Board members and staff."[77] Chow wrote to the Auditor General of Canada Sheila Fraser on June 5, 2009 to ask for an audit of the Authority.[77] At the news conference, the contents of the letter were released. The practices that the directors objected to included annual expenses of $50,000 on meals at the Harbour 60 restaurant, $80,000 in expenses by Lisa Raitt and $65,000 paid to a legal firm whose legal opinion was with-held from other board members. Chow called for an immediate investigation into the agency.[78]
In November 2009, the Toronto Star published its investigation of Chow's charges. The Star found that the election of Mark McQueen as chair of the TPA was contested. McQueen was elected chair at the March 2008 directors' meeting, replacing Michelle McCarthy, the Province of Ontario representative. Only five of the six board members were present, and no notice was given to the directors that a vote to replace McCarthy would take place. The election was disputed, with the TPA's own legal firm stating that the regulations were not followed, and the election "unlawful". Under the direction of McQueen and Raitt, another law firm was engaged to provide a second legal opinion. The second opinion dissented from the first, stating that the election was lawful. The December 2008 meeting of the TPA was held under the chairmanship of McQueen, although this was contested by McCarthy. The Star published the minutes as taken at the meeting, which were signed by Henley, listing McQueen as only attending. However, a revised minutes document was made that listed McQueen as chair, with controversial material removed, such as complaints over the interference of the Minister of Transport Lawrence Cannon and his staff. According to McQueen, the original minutes were an attempt to embarrass certain board members, and the 'unnecessary verbiage' removed. A January 21, 2009 meeting of the TPA board, with its three new directors (two appointed by the federal government and the third by the City of Toronto) subsequently voted for a second time to name McQueen as chair by a 5-4 vote.[79]
The TPA took issue with the Toronto Star investigation, declaring it "rife with errors and falsehoods", having a "lack of balance" and "Linda Diebel had information and documents in hand which demonstrated that she was being misled by biased sources, she inexplicably proceeded to publish serious and false accusations."[80] On November 6, the TPA published several budget documents to document the inaccuracies in the investigation. As part of the 2008 budget, the TPA had pre-approved a trip to London by Raitt, which director McCarthy said was not approved, and that Raitt had signed off on. The Star had incorrectly noted that Alan Paul had approved the minutes, when in fact it was Ron Paul, a legal trainee, however the TPA did not dispute that the minutes had been changed.[81] The Star published a notice of correction.[82] In a November 2009 press release, the TPA noted that "the Star has yet to acknowledge the failings in the series nor has it apologized for the false accusations made in the first two articles."[80]
The opposition Liberals and NDP both demanded that Ottawa conduct an investigation of the TPA and Raitt's expenses.[83][84] Raitt declared that she is in caught in the middle of a dispute between two groups of directors on the TPA board.[85] After delaying a final part of its investigation, the Star published its final part of its investigation, detailing the use of public relations firms by the TPA to counter its critics. One of the firms used for strategic communications purposes is Liberal strategist Warren Kinsella's Daisy Consulting Group.[86]
=== Conflict of interest probe[edit] ===
In April 2009, Federal Ethics Commissioner Mary Dawson began investigating the TPA Board of Directors over conflict of interest. The probe revolved around the TPA's controversial vote to purchase a new island airport ferry in January 2009, a vote of 5-4 in favour. The ethics commission did not name the board member under investigation, but the Ottawa Citizen reported that board members were asked about director Colin Watson and his relationship with Porter Airlines' CEO Robert Deluce. Watson contended that the investigation "was a result of political tensions on the Port Authority's board of directors".[87] On June 25, 2009, Dawson's report was released, revealing that it was Watson who was under investigation. Dawson specifically cleared board member Watson of conflict of interest. Ms. Dawson stated: “I believe that Mr. Watson exercised his duties both as a Director of the Toronto Port Authority and as Chair of the Audit & Finance Committee with the genuine conviction that the new ferry was a good thing for the TPA as a whole and for the Airport’s primary user, Porter Airlines. I do not believe that Mr. Watson was motivated by a desire to further the private interests of Mr. Deluce. I am therefore satisfied that Mr. Watson did not ‘improperly’ further the private interests of Mr. Deluce.”[88]
=== 2008–09 Board Appointments[edit] ===
In December 2008 and January 2009, the Government of Canada, appointed two new members to the board of directors of the Authority, expanding the number of directors to nine. This was done after the City of Toronto named a representative to the board, and the existing board voted against expanding the board size.[26] The Letters Patent were modified in December 2008 to raise the number of directors to nine, it was originally seven. The Harper government then named two new directors.[89] The new members, both having ties to the Conservative Party of Canada, were criticized on their merits and the appearance of patronage. Toronto Councillor Adam Vaughan, whose ward includes the Island Airport, and who has been critical of the TPA in the past, called Jeremy Adams's appointment "absolutely unacceptable", and the two appointments amounting to the federal government "stacking" the board with pro-Airport members. Chris Day, a spokesman for federal Transport Minister John Baird was quoted as stating that "is taking steps to preserve the Island Airport's continued status as an important catalyst for Toronto's economic competitiveness". The number of board members now totals nine, which is two more than the seaports of Montreal and Halifax and one fewer than Vancouver.[22]
=== Lobbying efforts[edit] ===
In 2006, the TPA was criticized for its use of lobbyists by Olivia Chow, NDP MP for the riding including the Airport. Chow accused the governing Harper government of backing down on a promise to slay cronyism in Ottawa because Tory-connected lobbyists were pushing the expansion of Toronto's controversial island airport. Then-CEO Lisa Raitt stated that the Port Authority spends around CDN $50,000 a year on lobbyists, and confirmed that their lobbyists are: Peter Naglik (a former speech writer for Prime Minister Stephen Harper), Vic Gupta(Ontario PC Party treasurer, former deputy campaign manager for John Tory's 2003 failed bid for Toronto Mayor, and until June 2006 on Jane Pitfield's election team) and Bill Hearn (lawyer).[18]
=== Breaches of Landing Curfew Times[edit] ===
The airport has a strict 11:00 PM curfew set out by the Tripartite Agreement. Curfew breaches are handled on a case by case basis by the TPA. If an aircraft is found to have breached the curfew parameters, the TPA may impose a fine for each such landing.
=== Lawsuits ===
==== Dispute over payments in lieu of taxes to the City of Toronto[edit] ====
Federal agencies such as the TPA do not pay property taxes as such, but instead some negotiated amount to account for municipal services, known as 'Payments in lieu of taxes' (PILTs).[90] For the period from 1999 until 2008, the Toronto Port Authority did not make payments in lieu of property tax to the City of Toronto on the Island Airport in a dispute over the amount of the payment. In April 2006, the City applied to the Federal PILTs Dispute Advisory Panel. The City withheld $10 million in contractual payments owed to the TPA pending the dispute resolution.[91]
By 2009, the City estimated that the port authority owed $37 million in unpaid payments in lieu of property tax. This value was based on the land value of the property, its assessed value as calculated by the Ontario government assessment agency. In 2008, the City and TPA submitted their case to the Dispute Advisory Panel. On January 26, 2009, the Dispute Advisory Panel recommended an amount of $5 million that the Port Authority must pay. This value was based on similar payments made by other airports, which make the payments based on passenger numbers. Pearson Airport, at the time of the ruling paid 94 cents per passenger. The ruling by the Dispute Panel works out to 80 cents per passenger.[92] On February 10, 2009, the City applied for a judicial review to the Federal Court of Canada.[91]
On November 25, 2009, the City and the TPA came to an agreement in principle to settle all outstanding legal issues. Both sides agreed to accept the other's estimate of monies owned. The City agreed to pay $11.4 million owing on payments related to the 2002 property settlement and $380,559 owing on harbour user fees. The TPA agreed to pay the City $6.4 million owed to resolve the dispute over the PILTs. The agreement, which was ratified by Toronto City Council in 2010, was made in conjunction with the transfer of 18 acres (7.3 ha) of land at Leslie Street and Lake Shore Boulevard for a proposed Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) light rail storage facility.[93][94] The settlement still left the airport, 80 Cherry Street and the Outer Harbour to be settled.
In April 2013, Toronto Council voted against adopting a tax agreement over the airport, under which the TPA would have paid PILTs for the airport on a per passenger basis at a rate of 94 cents per passenger, the same rate paid by Pearson Airport.[95] In January 2014, the two sides agreed to the rate of 94 cents per passenger, settling the dispute over the airport. The settlement left other TPA properties on 
Cherry Street and the Outer Harbour Marina still in dispute.[96]
==== Air Canada Jazz vs. TPA and Porter[edit] ====
On February 15, 2006, Air Canada announced that their lease for use of terminal space controlled by City Centre Aviation (CCAL) at the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport was terminated by CCAL. CCAL had been bought out by REGCO Holdings (now Porter Aviation Holdings) as a precursor to the terminal facility being used for Porter Airlines. On February 27, 2006, Air Canada lost a court appeal against REGCO and eventually abandoned its legal case against REGCO in August 2006.[97]
However Air Canada Jazz was not completely finished. In July 2006, Jazz announced that it would resume operations at the airport as of August 2006. However the TPA countered that Jazz could not operate without a 'commercial carrier operating agreement', which Jazz refused to sign, because it would "unfairly limit its access to the facilities."[98] Unable to fly without the TPA authority, Jazz discontinued its plans to resume flights one month later.[97]
Jazz filed a $11.5 million lawsuit against the TPA and later, Porter, in the Ontario Superior Court in February 2006, alleging that the TPA signed contracts forcing Jazz out of the airport, causing a monopoly at the airport, and were anti-competitive. Jazz later filed a suit in Federal Court.[1] On October 20, 2009, Jazz formally dropped its suit in Ontario Court. According to the announcement, Jazz dropped the matter in provincial court as the TPA is a federal agency, and the Airport is a federal facility. Damages in the federal case are not specified.[99] Porter filed a counter-claim to Jazz' lawsuit citing damages of $850 million, based on Jazz agreement with Air Canada, and Porter has not dropped its counter-claim.[99]
Air Canada abandoned its legal actions in the Federal Court, but pursued a judicial review of TPA's plans to open the airport to other airlines. The action was heard in Federal Court in July 2010, and the Court dismissed Air Canada's claims against the TPA's decisions of December 2009 and April 2010 with respect to the airport slot allocations.[100]
==== 2006 TPA vs. Community Air lawsuit[edit] ====
In 2006, the TPA launched a lawsuit against the Community Air community group for $3.4 million CAD. The lawsuit claimed that the group and its directors were "zealous and unbalanced" in their waterfront advocacy. TPA CEO Lisa Raitt stated in the media that: "We are not going to allow untruths and personal attacks to go unchallenged". The suit demanded that each pay $500,000 in damages for defamation, $250,000 in aggravated damages and another $100,000 in punitive damages to the port authority, its president Lisa Raitt and two others.[101][102] "We really view this as being a 'SLAPP suit' and that's a type of lawsuit that is carried out against community groups and individuals to prevent them from speaking their minds about issues of public importance," said Community Air's lawyer Louis Sokolov in conversation with CBC reporters.[103] According to the National Post, the complaint stemmed from a Community Air memo sent to then Minister of Transport Lawrence Cannon, describing the TPA as a "painful thorn in the side of the city". Cannon later initiated the Tassé review of the TPA.[104]
In May 2007, the lawsuit was settled out of court. Community Air agreed to retract their statements and apologize. A spokesperson for Community Air said that it hoped that would foster a better relationship with the TPA.[105] Since the settlement, Community Air continues to criticize the agency.
==== 2008 TPA vs. City of Toronto Lawsuit[edit] ====
In 2008, the TPA launched a lawsuit against the City of Toronto to prevent a 'no-stopping' bylaw for the roadway in front of the ferry dock. The City intended to build a sidewalk for a nearby school, according to Councillor Adam Vaughan. Lawyers for the TPA and Porter Airlines characterized the bylaw as "guerrilla tactics" to disrupt the Airport's operations.[106] In a December 23, 2008 Ontario Superior Court decision a Judge dismissed the City's arguments as "unreasonable" and directed the City to immediately approve the TPA's early 2006 request to perform basic work to the TPA’s Bathurst Street lot.<citation needed>
=== Political positions on the Port Authority[edit] ===
The various political positions on the future of the Port Authority and the island airport:
==== Conservative Party of Canada  — Federal Party position Conservative Party of Canada ====
The Party is a big supporter of the TPA and the operation of Porter Airlines. In the 2006 federal election, Steven Harper chose not to comment on the airport expansion, however, after the election, the government appointed several Tory party members to the Board.[107] In December 2008 and January 2009, the Party nominated two further Party members to the TPA board after the City of Toronto named its representative to the TPA board. Former TPA CEO Lisa Raitt became the Conservative MP for Halton Region, and was named Minister of Natural Resources. She was appointed Minister of Transport in July 2013. In September 2009, Minister of Transport John Baird named a Party fund-raiser to the board.
==== Liberal Party of Canada  — Federal Party position ====
The TPA was created while the Liberal Party was in power (1999). Several Toronto Liberal MPs were strong supporters of the TPA including Dennis Mills, Tony Ianno and David Collenette. Under Prime Minister Paul Martin, the Liberals cancelled construction of the airport bridge at the request of City Council after the 2003 municipal election. This marked the second time that a Liberal Prime Minister cancelled a link to the airport. In the 1930s, the Liberals were the government in power that cancelled a tunnel linking the airport. In the 2006 federal election, several local Liberal MPs went on the record as opposing the airport expansion. The Liberals publicly criticized the appointment of Tory fundraiser Robert Poirier to the TPA Board as a 'patronage appointment.'[108]
==== New Democratic Party  — Federal Party position ====
The NDP wants the agency shut down. Toronto Member of Parliament Olivia Chow, is the prime critic of the TPA and the airport expansion. Chow, whose riding includes the airport, wants control of the port passed to the city and has introduced a private member's bill to do so. Federal party leader Jack Layton, who represented a nearby riding, had stated that he wanted the Auditor-General to investigate the settlement surrounding the failed airport bridge.
==== Mayor David Miller ====
The former mayor of Toronto, David Miller won his 2003 election partly on the campaign pledge to prevent "airport expansion" - the construction of a bridge connecting the airport to the mainland. Miller has stated publicly that he wants Toronto to regain control over the Port Authority: "I've never believed we needed a port authority," and "It doesn't really perform any function. Shipping is not at a level that it needs it."[19] When discussing the creation of a new airline the mayor was quoted as saying: "This is a federal agency that is under federal control that has never respected the wishes of the people of the City of Toronto, and it's the federal government that will have to bring it to heel."[109] Miller has publicly stated his opposition to the proposed pedestrian tunnel to the airport.
==== Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) position ====
The labour union supports the expansion of flights at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and appeared at the press conference to announce the start up of Porter Airlines' and its initial order of planes. The union represents employees of the Toronto Bombardier aircraft factory, which builds the Q400 planes used by Porter Airlines.
==== Toronto Region Board of Trade ====
The Toronto Region Board of Trade <cross-article link> produced a report in 2006 appealing to the City and to the TPA to start working together, citing an estimated positive economic impact of over $135 million from the Airport. To quote Glen Stone, a Board of Trade spokesman:
“There are two facts that are inescapable: Number one, there is an airport on the island. Number two, just a few hundred metres away there is a city. Neither of them are about to go away. So the two sides can continue fighting and feuding or they can realize that they can benefit from each other through a bit of compromise and co-operation. Both sides could be winners instead of dragging each other down.”
Among the recommendations were increasing the number of Toronto-appointed board members, operating the airport without any subsidies and resolving any back tax disputes. The TPA welcomed the report, but Mayor Miller noted that the plan "falls short of identifying a fundamental change that needs to be made."[110]
==== Toronto City Council ====
Prior to the formation of the TPA, City Council voted twice in favour of a bridge to the airport. On the TPA, Council was in favour of bringing the Port under the city's umbrella. When the TPA sued the city, City Council voted again to support the bridge. However, after the retirement of former Mayor Mel Lastman, who supported the expansion of the Airport, the Council changed. The Council elected in 2003 along with Mayor Miller, voted to cancel the bridge project. A municipal election was held in 2006 and a majority of councillors supporting Mayor Miller were elected. After Trinity-Spadina Councillor Olivia Chow moved to federal politics, Adam Vaughan was elected in her place to Council, and he is a vocal opponent of Airport expansion.
==== Local Community Opposition ====
As of 2009, local community associations and the main opposition group "Community Air" remain opposed to the Island Airport. When Porter Airlines first started flights, protests and boycotts were called for, however the actual amount of active protest has died down. As recently as April 24, 2009, the vice-chair of Community Air stated "The fight to shutter the airport is far from over."[111]
==== Overall Toronto residents ====
In 2009, a TPA-sponsored poll showed that 58% of Toronto residents supported the TPA remaining independent.[70]
Heatherlabonte tpa (talk) 13:32, 18 March 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Controversies[edit] 

message: The various political positions on the future of the Port Authority and the island airport:
==== Conservative Party of Canada  — Federal Party position Conservative Party of Canada ====
The Party is a big supporter of the TPA and the operation of Porter Airlines. In the 2006 federal election, Steven Harper chose not to comment on the airport expansion, however, after the election, the government appointed several Tory party members to the Board.[107] In December 2008 and January 2009, the Party nominated two further Party members to the TPA board after the City of Toronto named its representative to the TPA board. Former TPA CEO Lisa Raitt became the Conservative MP for Halton Region, and was named Minister of Natural Resources. She was appointed Minister of Transport in July 2013. In September 2009, Minister of Transport John Baird named a Party fund-raiser to the board.
==== Liberal Party of Canada  — Federal Party position ====
The TPA was created while the Liberal Party was in power (1999). Several Toronto Liberal MPs were strong supporters of the TPA including Dennis Mills, Tony Ianno and David Collenette. Under Prime Minister Paul Martin, the Liberals cancelled construction of the airport bridge at the request of City Council after the 2003 municipal election. This marked the second time that a Liberal Prime Minister cancelled a link to the airport. In the 1930s, the Liberals were the government in power that cancelled a tunnel linking the airport. In the 2006 federal election, several local Liberal MPs went on the record as opposing the airport expansion. The Liberals publicly criticized the appointment of Tory fundraiser Robert Poirier to the TPA Board as a 'patronage appointment.'[108]
==== New Democratic Party  — Federal Party position ====
The NDP wants the agency shut down. Toronto Member of Parliament Olivia Chow, is the prime critic of the TPA and the airport expansion. Chow, whose riding includes the airport, wants control of the port passed to the city and has introduced a private member's bill to do so. Federal party leader Jack Layton, who represented a nearby riding, had stated that he wanted the Auditor-General to investigate the settlement surrounding the failed airport bridge.
==== Mayor David Miller ====
The former mayor of Toronto, David Miller won his 2003 election partly on the campaign pledge to prevent "airport expansion" - the construction of a bridge connecting the airport to the mainland. Miller has stated publicly that he wants Toronto to regain control over the Port Authority: "I've never believed we needed a port authority," and "It doesn't really perform any function. Shipping is not at a level that it needs it."[19] When discussing the creation of a new airline the mayor was quoted as saying: "This is a federal agency that is under federal control that has never respected the wishes of the people of the City of Toronto, and it's the federal government that will have to bring it to heel."[109] Miller has publicly stated his opposition to the proposed pedestrian tunnel to the airport.
==== Canadian Auto Workers Union (CAW) position ====
The labour union supports the expansion of flights at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and appeared at the press conference to announce the start up of Porter Airlines' and its initial order of planes. The union represents employees of the Toronto Bombardier aircraft factory, which builds the Q400 planes used by Porter Airlines.
==== Toronto Region Board of Trade ====
The Toronto Region Board of Trade <cross-article link> produced a report in 2006 appealing to the City and to the TPA to start working together, citing an estimated positive economic impact of over $135 million from the Airport. To quote Glen Stone, a Board of Trade spokesman:
“There are two facts that are inescapable: Number one, there is an airport on the island. Number two, just a few hundred metres away there is a city. Neither of them are about to go away. So the two sides can continue fighting and feuding or they can realize that they can benefit from each other through a bit of compromise and co-operation. Both sides could be winners instead of dragging each other down.”
Among the recommendations were increasing the number of Toronto-appointed board members, operating the airport without any subsidies and resolving any back tax disputes. The TPA welcomed the report, but Mayor Miller noted that the plan "falls short of identifying a fundamental change that needs to be made."[110]
==== Toronto City Council ====
Prior to the formation of the TPA, City Council voted twice in favour of a bridge to the airport. On the TPA, Council was in favour of bringing the Port under the city's umbrella. When the TPA sued the city, City Council voted again to support the bridge. However, after the retirement of former Mayor Mel Lastman, who supported the expansion of the Airport, the Council changed. The Council elected in 2003 along with Mayor Miller, voted to cancel the bridge project. A municipal election was held in 2006 and a majority of councillors supporting Mayor Miller were elected. After Trinity-Spadina Councillor Olivia Chow moved to federal politics, Adam Vaughan was elected in her place to Council, and he is a vocal opponent of Airport expansion.
==== Local Community Opposition ====
As of 2009, local community associations and the main opposition group "Community Air" remain opposed to the Island Airport. When Porter Airlines first started flights, protests and boycotts were called for, however the actual amount of active protest has died down. As recently as April 24, 2009, the vice-chair of Community Air stated "The fight to shutter the airport is far from over."[111]
==== Overall Toronto residents ====
In 2009, a TPA-sponsored poll showed that 58% of Toronto residents supported the TPA remaining independent.[70]
Heatherlabonte tpa (talk) 13:32, 18 March 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Political positions on the Port Authority[edit] 

message: In 2009, a TPA-sponsored poll showed that 58% of Toronto residents supported the TPA remaining independent.[70]
Heatherlabonte tpa (talk) 13:32, 18 March 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Overall Toronto residents 

message: I guess is is terribly nitpicky but all the agency's material spells the name as PortsToronto with no space. I would think the article name should reflect that. Will go ahead and make the change. 
Source: About Us: http://www.portstoronto.com/About-TPA/About-Us.aspx
TastyPoutine talk (if you dare) 14:29, 4 April 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Ports Toronto or PortsToronto 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just added archive links to  on PortsToronto. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add  after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add  to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/20110728065639/http://www.cbc.ca/fp/story/2009/10/20/2123574.html to http://www.cbc.ca/fp/story/2009/10/20/2123574.html
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just added archive links to  on PortsToronto. Please take a moment to review my edit. If necessary, add  after the link to keep me from modifying it. Alternatively, you can add  to keep me off the page altogether. I made the following changes:
*Added archive https://web.archive.org/20080517024613/http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061103.TASSE03/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/ to http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20061103.TASSE03/TPStory/TPNational/Ontario/
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified  on PortsToronto. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 11 external links on PortsToronto. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.torontoport.com/PortAuthority/port_information.asp?id=93
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2008/2008-12-20/html/notice-avis-eng.html
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*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.insidetoronto.com/news/cityhall/article/217647--ttc-toronto-port-authority-reach-deal-on-land-for-light-rail-vehicle-storage
*Corrected formatting/usage for http://www.cbc.ca/toronto/story/to-lawsuit20060621.html
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thread_title:  External links modified