PortsToronto


The Toronto Port Authority, is a port authority that is responsible for the management of the Port of Toronto, including the International Marine Passenger Terminal, and Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. It was established under the Canada Marine Act as a government business enterprise that is self-funded, with directors appointed by three levels of government – the Government of Canada, the Government of Ontario and the City of Toronto. The TPA rebranded itself as PortsToronto in 2015.. And on January 15, 2026, after a decade of doing business as PortsToronto, the organization returned to its legal/ legacy name of Toronto Port Authority.
The organization is the successor to the Toronto Harbour Commission that had managed Toronto Harbour since 1911, paid for through government transfers, harbour and airport fees. As part of a Canada-wide plan of the Government of Canada to turn government commissions into self-sufficient agencies, the TPA was set up in 1999 to take over the port and airport functions of the THC. This was done against the wishes of the City of Toronto, which had been transferring THC harbour lands to city agencies for redevelopment. The city had planned to take over the harbour administration as a direct city function.
The new mission, to be self-sufficient, led the TPA to pursue opportunities to increase its revenues, including expansion of the island airport and the building of a cruise ship terminal. The TPA built a working relationship with startup airline Porter Airlines and, despite the 2003 cancellation of a permanent bridge to the airport, has been successful in increasing air traffic at the airport to the point where it turned a profit in 2008. It has since built a pedestrian tunnel to the airport.
The TPA's efforts to expand the airport in partnership with Porter has placed it in opposition to various communities in Toronto and Toronto City Council, which in 2003 cancelled a TPA-planned bridge to the airport. Additionally, the TPA has been involved in several disputes, including a land dispute, harbour fees and property taxes with the city, and lawsuits over the operation of the airport with Air Canada. In 2013, Porter proposed an expansion of the airport to support the introduction of jet airplanes to the airport. Toronto City Council refused to endorse the proposal and sent it to the TPA for study. The jet proposal was cancelled in December 2015 after the newly elected Liberal federal government announced it would not renegotiate the operating agreement of the airport to allow jets.

Operations

Toronto Port Authority operates the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, Billy Bishop Toronto City Water Aerodrome, Port of Toronto, the International Marine Passenger Terminal and the Outer Harbour Marina. TPA also provides regulatory controls and public works for marine and air navigation in the port and harbour of Toronto. TPA grants operator's permits to recreational boaters in the harbour of Toronto, oversees land development, engages in trade development for its terminals, and appoints the Harbour Master. TPA has a staff of 110 full-time employees and approximately 25 seasonal and part-time workers. As of December 2008, the organization had million in capital assets.

Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport

Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport, or Toronto Island Airport, is located at the western end of Toronto Islands. Operation of the airport is governed by a 1983 tripartite agreement between the Toronto Harbour Commission, the Government of Canada and the City of Toronto. The majority of the airport land is owned by the Toronto Port Authority with two small sections owned by the Government of Canada and a small section owned by the city. The small portion of city-owned land is leased to the Toronto Port Authority for a nominal amount until 2033 under the 1983 agreement. Access to the airport is by ferry services operated by the Toronto Port Authority and a pedestrian tunnel.
Built in 1939 on land dredged from the harbour, it has two runways which can accommodate the smaller planes of regional scheduled airlines and general aviation aircraft. The 1983 agreement prohibits jet airplanes except in emergencies. In 2007, the number of landings and take-offs at the airport was 90,199. Because of its location near downtown and its tall buildings, industrial smokestacks and a wind turbine, air traffic into and out of the airport is controlled with approaches and departures routed over the lake. A seaplane base is located just east of the main apron. The airport is also used for medical flights.
The airport has been the site of operations of several regional airlines since the 1980s. The first airline was City Express, until 1990. This was followed by Air Ontario and Air Canada Jazz. Since 2006, Porter Airlines has operated out of the airport. The airline currently flies to more than 20 regional destinations including Ottawa, Montreal and Newark, Chicago, Boston, Halifax and Quebec City. The airport handled 2.8 million passengers in 2018.

Port of Toronto

The Port of Toronto is located at the eastern end of the Toronto Harbour. The Toronto Port Authority operates a paved facility consisting of Marine Terminal 51 and Warehouse 52 on the east side of the harbour. There are of deep-water wharfage for the loading and unloading of bulk products. Marine terminals include inside and outside storage, and some of berthing space for ships carrying general cargo. The port facilities include the Cruise Ship Facility, or International Marine Passenger Terminal which was built as a passenger terminal for a ferry to Rochester, New York.
The lands of the Port of Toronto used to be significantly larger. The Port Lands surrounding the facility were created by infilling the delta of the Don River by the Toronto Harbour Commission in the 1910s, and were owned and controlled by the Harbour Commission until the 1990s, when they were transferred to the City of Toronto. The lands are expected to be redeveloped into a new neighbourhood, by the Waterfront Toronto partnership. The north-east corner of the harbour, formerly housing marine terminals, is being redeveloped into the East Bayfront residential neighbourhood. The Don River mouth is planned to be 're-naturalized'.

Other facilities

Other facilities operated by the Toronto Port Authority include:
  • Outer Harbour Marina is located on the Leslie Street Spit in a protected channel with access to Lake Ontario and Toronto's Inner Harbour with 636 slips.
  • Toronto Port Authority also offers services such as harbour maintenance, engineering services, lake-filling, shoreline protection, facility maintenance, marine services, special cargo handling, dredging, topographic and hydrographic surveys, port security and many others.
  • The management offices were located in the Toronto Harbour Commission Building in downtown Toronto, just south of the Air Canada Centre. The building was sold by PortsToronto in 2017 for million to developer Oxford Properties. It is to be part of a commercial office development. In 2019, PortsToronto moved to the Queen's Quay Terminal.

    Security

Toronto Port Authority Protective Services employs full-time enforcement and security officers who are responsible for the protection of passengers, personnel and facilities against acts of unlawful interference with civil aviation and marine security at Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport. Enforcement officers wear a distinctive dark-navy blue uniform with body armour while on duty. Their duties include:
  • Patrolling Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport and other Toronto Port Authority properties
  • Conducting marine patrols of the Toronto Harbour to ensure that vessels comply with designated marine exclusion zones set in place around the airport
  • Responding to aviation and marine security incidents
  • Enforcing aviation and marine security related regulations
  • Explosive detection
  • Support for local law enforcement, fire and paramedic services
  • Customer support in both official languages

    Governance

PortsToronto is a public corporation. As such, it has a board of directors, appointed under regulations of the Canada Marine Act and the Letters patent of the agency. As originally set up, the board was seven members, and was made up of one member appointed by the Government of Canada, one by the city, one by the Province of Ontario, and four by the federal government in consultation with the classes of users mentioned in the letters patent. The federal government changed the Letters Patent of the TPA in 2008 to modify this to nine members. The federal Minister of Transport now nominates seven of the nine members, one as the federal government representative and six "in consultation with the users selected by the Minister, or the classes of users mentioned in Schedule D of these Letters Patent."
The current agency replaced the older Toronto Harbour Commission that had a five-member board including three City of Toronto councillors. Under the Letters Patent, no City of Toronto Councillor, Ontario Member of Parliament or Canadian Member of Parliament can be a director and no employee of the City of Toronto, Province of Ontario, or Government of Canada can be a director. The 'users directors' are to be nominated by the businesses operating in the port, the airport, commercial users or recreational businesses. Like all port authorities created from harbour commissions, the aim was to update port operations so that it worked more like a business than a government agency.
This model of organization has been criticized for excluding persons or organizations that utilize the services in a non-commercial manner. The TPA has had to defend the choice and composition of the board of directors. Lisa Raitt, former TPA CEO has stated: "It's a community-based board of directors".
In 2008, board members were paid between $13,000 and $18,000 each for their services.