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A recent survey completed last weekend by Nanos Research on behalf of Porter Airlines suggests that a very comfortable majority of Torontonians were in favour of plans for the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. More than two of three residents (65.8 per cent) supported or somewhat supported an initiative to allow new jets to land at the airport as long as they do not exceed the airports existing noise limits. Likewise, six in ten Torontonians (59.7 per cent) supported or somewhat supported extending the runway 200 meters in each direction as long as it did not impact boaters.
“The opinion is quite clear, if plans for aircraft into the airport do not exceed existing noise limits and do not impact boaters, those in favour trump those against by a significant margin,” according to Nik Nanos, the chairman of the Nanos Research Group of Companies. “In fact, outright support was about twice as strong as outright opposition.”
Asked about the future, more than three of four Torontonians (76.9 per cent) thought that the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport downtown was an important or somewhat important part of Toronto’s transportation future (only 17.2 per cent said it was unimportant or somewhat unimportant and 5.8 per cent were unsure).
Torontonians were asked what they thought their most important issue for the upcoming Toronto municipal election would be. Transportation/public transit and leadership/governance topped the unprompted list (25.7 per cent and 22.0 per cent respectively). Zero point four percent (two respondents out of 501) of Torontonians said the BBTCA was their most important issue in the Nanos Survey.
“This represents a clear message to municipal leaders. Torontonians want the next municipal election to be about transit and leadership,” said Nanos. “Overall, what we learned from the research is that Torontonians are good with proposed plans for the airport as long as they respect existing noise limits and do not impact boaters.”
Methodology
Nanos conducted a RDD dual frame (land- and cell-lines) random telephone survey using live callers of 501 Torontonians on March 22-23, 2014. The sample included both land- and cell-lines. Individuals randomly called using random digit dialling and were called five times. The margin of error for a random survey of 501 Torontonians is ±4.4 percentage points, 19 times out of 20. The survey data was weighted using the latest Census data to be representative of the population of Toronto and is an accurate representation of opinion at the time of the survey. The research was commissioned by Porter Airlines as a standalone study with no other questions other than the following (demographic questions were also asked to statistically test and weight the results):
1. Thinking of the upcoming Toronto municipal elections, what is the most important issue for you? [Open-ended]
2. Is the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport downtown an important, somewhat important, somewhat unimportant, or unimportant part of Toronto’s transportation future?
Do you support, somewhat support, somewhat oppose or oppose the following: [ROTATE]
3. Extending the runway at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport by 200 meters into the water at each end as long as it does not impact boaters.
4. Allowing new jet aircraft to land at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport as long as the new jet aircraft do not exceed the airport’s existing noise limits.
To get a copy of the Nanos Report with the statistical tables please visit www.nanosresearch.com.
