Article content

OTTAWA — The federal Liberals won’t change a decision that effectively halts an expansion of the island airport in downtown Toronto, with the new transport minister calling it a “quality of life issue” for the city’s residents.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau said Friday he intends to stick with a decision to reject a request from Porter Airlines to renegotiate an airport agreement among the City of Toronto, Ports Toronto and the federal government to extend the runway at Billy Bishop airport to allow jets to land.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Feds quash Toronto island airport expansion plans, despite new studies coming in 2016 Back to video

The Liberals promised before and during the federal election not to open the three-party agreement.

Garneau said the promise was based on concerns from many voters in Toronto about what an airport expansion would mean for the future of the city’s waterfront.

The decision made earlier this month goes beyond concerns about noise from larger planes landing at the island airport, he said.