Owen Sound Mayor Ruth Lovell Stanners is not thrilled about the desire to rename Toronto’s island airport after decorated fighter pilot Billy Bishop. He is already the namesake of her city’s regional airport.
Ms. Lovell Stanners– who jokes that she is calling it Terminal 2 — worries about the confusion that may result from having two airports in the same province named after the same person, even though she knows he is worthy of it.
“Obviously we thought enough of him to name our airport after him,” Ms. Lovell Stanners said of Bishop, an Owen Sound son who flew in the First World War. His home is now a museum. “I also recognize that he is a national hero as well and the recognition is broader than this city.”
The Toronto Port Authority, which runs the island airport, made public this week its hope to rename the facility the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, pending approval from Transport Canada. The port authority considers it a fitting way to pay tribute to William “Billy” Bishop, a flying ace who is credited with 72 victories and earned the Victoria Cross. He went on to become a recruiter for the Royal Canadian Air Force during the Second World War, flying through Toronto as he criss-crossed the country pinning wings on graduates. He also ran a flight service from the Toronto harbour to Ontario’s cottage country with another war hero, Billy Barker.
“To name an airport after a flying hero makes sense,” Arthur Bishop, 84, said of the recognition for his father, who died in 1956. “You wouldn’t name a swimming pool after him, or a park necessarily. But an airport, for an airman, makes sense.”
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Councillor Adam Vaughan, who represents the ward, said he thinks the proposal distracts from more pertinent conversations about how the port authority operates.
“There are some very serious issues that we are trying to get some answers to,” he said, including the fact that the airport’s air traffic control tower is not staffed after 11 p.m. “and planes land themselves.”
“Changing the name is all well and nice, but really it’s a diversion tactic,” he said.
The airport’s foes, who include Mayor David Miller, are intent on shutting it down. There is speculation that naming it after a war hero will make that goal harder to achieve.
Airport director Ken Lundy said there is no “agenda” behind the name change. “We thought it was an honourable thing to do, in celebration of the 100th anniversary of flight in Canada.” As for Mr. Vaughan’s concerns about the control tower, Mr. Lundy said commercial planes are not supposed to land at the airport past 11 p.m., although sometimes they do, but that rule has to do with noise issues, not safety concerns.
A spokesperson for NAV Canada, which staffs the control towers, said pilots do not need air traffic controllers to land planes, and the vast majority of certified airports in Canada do not have them. “There is absolutely no safety issue at all,” said Mr. Lundy, who is employed by the Toronto Port Authority.
He also said he did not expect there to be any confusion among pilots, since they follow airport codes, not names.
Ms. Lovell Stanners said the city council will discuss whether or not to formally object to the proposed name change.
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