Tell Your MP: Expand Rouge National Urban Park!

Your letter will be sent to your Member of Parliament, The Honourable Steven MacKinnon Minister of Transport and Leader of the Government in the House of Commons, The Honourable Julie Aviva Dabrusin Minister of  Environment, Climate Change and Nature,  Prime Minister Mark Carney and Juanita Nathan, MP for Pickering-Brooklin. 

In the early 1970s, the Federal Government acquired 18,600 acres of land known as the Pickering Airport Lands, to develop a new international airport. Amid backlash from citizens, the government put this plan on hold in 1975 and focused their efforts on expanding Toronto Pearson International Airport and leasing the Pickering properties to residents and farmers.

In January 2025, the Federal government announced the cancellation of the airport and stated that the “vast majority” of the lands, including all lands of  “high conservation value” would be transferred  to Parks Canada. Transport Canada is currently working with Parks Canada, Public Service and Procurement Canada, Canada Lands Company, and Housing, Infrastructure and Communities Canada to assess options for the future uses of the lands. 

The cancellation of the airport was promising news, but we now need to make sure these lands aren’t paved over for a different reason: development. Once this land is paved, it’s gone forever. Let’s get these lands protected as a part of Rouge National Urban Park. 

With the City of Pickering advocating for the former airport lands to be used for development, there is a risk that the Federal government will define  “high conservation value” land very narrowly while giving lands over to unnecessary and destructive residential, commercial and industrial development. Mapping research by Environmental Defence has identified that 809 hectares of industrially zoned greenfield lands remain undeveloped within the City of Pickering with only 37.4 hectares having been  converted to industrial warehousing between 2020 and 2024 (the year that the latest data is available). In other words, the City of Pickering was successful in converting less than five percent of its greenfield industrial lands between 2020 and 2024. At this rate of use it would take 108 years to fully allocate the existing supply and we can imagine that some current industrial uses will change over the next 108 years. With plenty of industrial zoned lands available, converting Federal public lands to industrial uses would squander a golden opportunity to protect our food supply, ensure clean water and reduce flood risk downstream to Ajax and create massive long term economic opportunities stemming from the creation of a world-class National Park in the heart of Durham. 

Ontarians know that when it comes to Rouge expansion we can protect the  farms, because lots of land is already set aside for warehouses! Send a letter to your MP today asking them to ensure that the entirety of these lands are transferred  to the Rouge National Park and not to Developers.