4560 Sideline 22, R.R. #5, Claremont ON L1Y 1A2 /
[email protected] / 905-649-2433 John Henry, Chair April 8, 2021 Durham Regional Council 605 Rossland Road East Whitby, Ontario L1N 6A3 Dear Mr Henry, I am writing with regard to the posting of March 9, 2020, on Durham Region’s website. The post, about a Pickering airport, is seriously misleading, announcing conclusions that KPMG did not reach and featuring claims that the report did not contain. More than a full pandemic year after the appearance of this post, the inaccuracies are still there and have become increasingly objectionable. It is dishonest for the Region to mischaracterize KPMG’s conclusions and then use that mischaracterization to imply that the airport is a certainty. It is not. In 2020, the aviation sector was already widely viewed as being on a collision course with climate change – and that was before COvID -19 surfaced and sent it into a tailspin. There is still no clarity as to when a global post-pandemic recovery will start, how long it will take, and how different the world will be in its wake. In the past twelve months, airlines have gone bankrupt, hundreds of airports around the world have faltered or been shuttered, and many expansion plans have been cancelled or have failed to attract investors. COvID -19 was often the cause, but so was the growing realization that greenhouse-gas emissions must be tackled seriously and swiftly as the climate emergency intensifies. In short, it is deceptive of Durham Region to imply that a Pickering airport is a foregone conclusion (it is not) and that KPMG recommended a Pickering airport to Transport Canada (they did not).