Newsstand: April 3, 2015

Good Friday! Easter weekend! Great stuff. In the news: Air Canada doesn't want jets at Billy Bishop Airport, carding is up for debate at the Toronto Police Services Board, and Canadian Muslims are encouragng each other to vote.

By Tannara Yelland • Illustration by Matthew Daley

Air Canada has come out against the proposed expansion of Billy Bishop Airport that would allow the airport to handle jets. The airline would like to see more turboprop planes doing two-hour flights into and out of the island airport. If the jet expansion is approved the runways will have to be lengthened by filling in part of the lake on which the island sits; critics worry about the stress the noise and pollution will put on marine life.

Following discussions between the Toronto police force and the Toronto Police Services Board, which oversees the force, the board has deferred a decision on the practice of carding until April 16. Police chief Bill Blair will present information on what kinds of data will be collected under the new guidelines; the board rolled back some of the rules Blair instituted and Blair’s decision to rule out carding wholesale is, of course, up for debate. Critics of the practice say Toronto police overwhelmingly focus on young men of colour when white people commit just as much crime, and that carding allows the police to amass information about the people they card and to keep that information on hand.

Canadian Muslim Vote is a new initiative encouraging young Muslims in Canada to vote in the upcoming federal election. There are more than one million Muslims in Canada but the group has a low turnout rate. Recent rhetoric both from the government and elsewhere has Canadian Muslims worried about new legislation like Bill C-51, which Muslims (along with many other groups) worry could lead to them being targeted as terrorists.