Complaint Review: The Minister of Transport (Transport Canada)

 Anyone who’s concerned about the incessant air traffic over the Greater Toronto Area and other areas in Canada should send the following two form letters (postage free) to the Minister of Transport Marc Garneau and to Ramesh Sangha who is the MP for Brampton Centre.  We can also reach the Minister of Transport by asking to be transferred to him at 1-866-599-4999.  We should also call NAV Canada (federal agency for flightpaths) at 1-800-876-4693 and the Greater Toronto Airports Authority (GTAA) Noise Complaints Line at 416-247-7682.  They’re all refusing to do anything about this problem.  Let’s inundate their offices with letters and calls.

The Minister of Transport

House of Commons

Ottawa, ON

K1A 0A6

Dear Minister:

Please introduce legislation in Parliament to force NAV Canada to restore the flight path system over the GTA that existed prior to Feb. 9, 2012.  At that time, NAV Canada took a long standing flight path and made it shorter and narrower.  It’s ridiculous that millions of GTA residents should be subject to increased noise and reduced quality of life to save the airlines a few dollars in fuel costs.  Please refer to Marg Evans of the Toronto Aviation Noise Group who appeared on the Dale Goldhawk radio show on Sept. 3, 2014 on AM 740 who articulated many of my concerns. 

Please also ban all night flights at Pearson Airport.  This was last done at Pearson in the 1970s.  There are an average of 19 planes passing through Pearson overnight every night.  If Frankfurt and Tokyo airports can ban all night flights when they’re the 5th and 3rd busiest airports worldwide respectively, then Pearson should follow their lead.  The only night flight hours with a reduction at Pearson are between 12:30 am and 6:30 am and this is far too narrow a time window to encompass the evening and night time hours.

NAV Canada is good at dispensing their information but they’re extremely lousy at receiving information.  They're evasive and are refusing to accept comments from the public.  Marg Evans had a dialogue with the previous Transport Minister Lisa Raitt but the Minister was unwilling to meet her concerns.  The noise sanctioning mechanism  currently in place is insufficient.  In 2013 there was only one noise sanction in all of Canada which was in Montreal.

Sincerely,

your name and address