March 25, 2025
The Empire Club of Canada Presents
Modernizing Toronto Pearson – Canada’s Global Transportation Hub Builds for the Future
Chairperson: Jenna Donelson, President, Board of Directors, Empire Club of Canada
Distinguished Guest Speaker
Deborah Flint, President & CEO, Toronto Pearson
Moderator
John Stackhouse, Senior Vice President, Office of the CEO, RBC
Panellists
Craig Landry, Executive Vice President & COO, Air Canada
Blair Wolk, President, Orlando Corporation
Head Table Guests
Anudeep Kambhampati, General Manager, Wipro
Welcome Address by Jenna Donelson, President, Board of Directors, Empire Club of Canada
Good afternoon, everyone. I’m Jenna Donelson, chair of the board of the Empire Club, and your host for today’s event.
To formally begin, I want to acknowledge that we are gathering on the Traditional and Treaty Lands of the Mississaugas of the Credit, and the homelands of the Anishinaabe, the Haudenosaunee, and the Wendat Peoples. I encourage you all to learn more about the Traditional Territory on which you live and work.
Today’s event would not be possible without the generous support of our sponsors. The Empire Club is a nonprofit organization. Our sponsors generously support the club, they make events like this possible, and they make viewing complimentary for those of you who are online. So. Please join me, in thanking our Lead Sponsors, CIBC, and Wipro. Thank you. Thank you, as well, to our VIP Reception Sponsors, InterVistas, and the Ontario Road Builders Association, and LiUNA. Thank you. And thank you to our Supporting Sponsor, Osler, Hoskin, and Harcourt. We appreciate you. Thank you. We also deeply appreciate the ongoing support of our Lead Season Sponsors, Bruce Power, and Hydro One, and our VIP Reception Season Sponsors, Waste Connections of Canada, and Ellis Don. Thank you, for your ongoing support. And finally, thank you to our Media Partner, the Toronto Star, and our AV Partner, Bespoke Audio Visual. We appreciate you.
If you have a question for our speakers, please scan the QR code found in your program, or through the Q&A function, if you’re online. For those of you who are online, if you require technical assistance, use the chat feature, and our staff will be there to help you.
The Empire Club is the place where Canada’s leaders, innovators, and changemakers have gathered for more than a century, to discuss ideas that drive progress. When it comes to progress, few topics are consistently as timely or as consequential as how we prepare our infrastructure to meet the demands of a rapidly growing country. We joke that sometimes, Toronto acts like it’s the centre of the universe, but it is inescapably true that Toronto is one of our country’s most important economic hubs. And Toronto Pearson is at the heart of so much of that activity.
A record-breaking 269,000 people came to live in the Greater Toronto Area last year. One way or another, they all relied on this hub. And we all rely on Pearson, no matter how long we’ve been here. Airports like Pearson are a cornerstone in a larger network, connecting industries, driving economic growth, and creating new opportunities for businesses and workers across Canada. That’s why today’s discussion matters. The investments being made through Pearson’s Lift Capital Plan will modernize the airport, to be sure. But we are all here because there’s more to this story. The decisions we make now will deeply affect how Canada competes in the global economy in the years ahead. And those years are already proving to be quite dynamic. So. I’m thrilled that we are hearing from Pearson’s leadership at this important moment. And this conversation wouldn’t be possible without the support of our Lead Sponsor, CIBC. They’ve asked me to share a few remarks, on their behalf.
Written Opening Remarks from CIBC
CIBC and Toronto Pearson are proud partners and have been helping ambitions take flight for over a decade together. We recently expanded this relationship, to bring even better experiences for travellers journeying through Pearson. Among other things, CIBC’s enhanced presence ensures travellers can access banking services when and where they need, while on the go. Departing passengers can now access FX, and other banking services, at Terminal 1 departure gates, in addition to existing services just past security, while arriving passengers benefit from an enhanced newcomer welcome service, just steps from the international arrival doors. As a hub of ambition, CIBC is a natural partner for Toronto Pearson. And our partnership ensures that the growing number of travellers can access CIBC banking services with ease and convenience, while on their journey.
End of Written Remarks
Jenna Donelson
Some lovely remarks from CIBC, on their partnership with Pearson Airport. So. Please join me, in thanking CIBC for their support. It is now my honour to introduce our keynote speaker. Deborah Flint is the President and CEO of Toronto Pearson, leading our airport at this pivotal moment. She brings deep experience in major infrastructure projects, including a $14 billion transformation of Los Angeles International Airport. And under her leadership, Pearson is aligning for the future, with bold investments that will define Canada’s place in the global economy. So. Please join me in welcoming to the stage, Deborah Flint.
Deborah Flint, President & CEO, Toronto Pearson
Good afternoon. Thank you so much, Jenna. Thank you to all of you being here, and as well our sponsors. I just have to take a breath, because it’s really a very special moment for myself, and I know for all of the team at Toronto Pearson, to have our very first, our inaugural State of the Airport. And to see so many of you, captains of industries, leaders of community, and elected officials, all gathered here today to be, proclaimed to be the new ambassadors and Chief Complaint Officers for Toronto Pearson. Thank you very much for joining the cause. Congratulations.
So, we have a lot of exciting things to share. You know, I’d like to first begin, though, with asking that our very dedicated and esteemed board of directors, who are here this afternoon, do stand up so you can see them, and talk with them in the moments after today’s event. Thank you to our board. And the word I would use is stellar, to describe the executive leadership team I have the honour of working with—please stand up and see them, as well, so you know who our incredible leadership, Toronto Pearson is. Together, we all understand the critical importance of the stewardship that we are all entrusted with for Toronto Pearson. And as we look across this room today, it’s also, I reflect on the vision that we have, and how much we can all do together. And it’s quite exciting. Toronto Pearson, your Toronto Pearson, is a great international hub airport.
Let’s start with looking back, and thinking about the good old days: 2024. I know many of us wish we could probably go back a little bit, to 2024. But the reality is, those days are actually long gone. It’s a new time. It is important, however, to reflect on 2024, the year that was for Toronto Pearson, because that, and the years before it, have set the foundation for what 2025 will entail for us, and more importantly, where that’s going to take us into the many years ahead, and how important that is at this time. It’s great to be able to stand here and to say that in 2024, Toronto Pearson had a very good year. We grew the business, that’s always foundational, and equalled almost 47 million passengers travelling through the airport—that’s 2 million passengers more than in 2023. And as equal to that are that there’s seven new airlines that joined and started service at Toronto Pearson in 2024, as well. That’s the most number of airlines that any airport in all of North America was able to succeed, in adding to its service levels.
The performance across the airport improved—and this is no easy feat, given what I’ll talk about later, which is the state of our assets. But the performance across the airport improved, as a whole. And this is in due part to the synergies that we have with our partners across the airport, their commitments to making operational improvements, as well as improvements for the customer journey and experience, and the experience of their employees. And together with our synergies that we created with new agreements, and new ways of partnering with our ecosystem of over 400 partners across the airport, those yielded important changes. Improvements like 4% bettering of on-time performance. We invested in deploying new technology to help facilitate that, as well, and elevated our operational performance and efficiency, and the passenger experience. We can look across the airport and see new technologies deployed across check-in, past arrival, entry, and numerous processes through the passenger journey. But there are also the things you don’t see behind the scenes, that contributed to that. New levels of automation and systems upgrades, and curating new approaches both to our vision of technology and our roadmap, as well as our cybersecurity posture, and mitigation strategies.
So, I’m very pleased with operations across the board for the airport, for every season that we planned and encountered. And then the events that we didn’t plan at all, like having two historic extreme weather events—and that was in ’24; I’m not speaking yet of 2025. We had a 80-year storm, and a 100-year storm. And throughout both of those climate events, we were able to run very solid operations. And it’s great to see the external recognition of that, quite frankly. We were awarded the Best Airport Over 40 Million Passengers in North America by a global benchmarking survey of passengers, while they are actually in the airport—aa very valid, incredible source by which we measure ourselves. Thank you.
And at a time when we are driving our own corporate transformation to align with our infrastructure plan, changing how we work, process improvement, how our workforce is showing up and is being ready for the skillsets not of just today, but what we need to deliver on our vision and our ambition of tomorrow, I’m very pleased that we were awarded one of Canada’s Best Employers by Forbes Magazine. And this is a reflection of our launching, also, our very first transformation office across the organization, that’s focused inwardly on how we function and operate as an airport. Because indeed, competition is what we are all about.
Today, your Toronto Pearson serves 199 destinations, and we are working for that 200—Carouche? Yes, I know we’ll get it this year. 199 destinations. We are North America’s most internationally-connected airport. I would many times say that the Canadian aviation model, across the board, is really understated. It has created so many impacts, positive impacts, connectivity, access, and economic impacts, far beyond the population that exists in this country. And it’s something that, as with any model, there’s always room for improvement to curate, to adjust it over the course of time and circumstance. But this has served this country for many years, and many decades. It has been built up, and it has served it very well.
Let’s reflect on the end state of 2024, thinking again through the challenges of our infrastructure, which has aged, many of the challenges of how the passenger expectation and operations have changed today. And even with those, that environment that exists, the outcomes is, at the end of the day, the magic of over 400 companies, and the people within them, deeply committed, with deep expertise, working day and every single night to generate these results. Very, very thankful for them. They see the vision, where Toronto Pearson wants to put the joy back into travel, and make us the chosen place both to fly, the chosen place for people to work. For all our partners in the room that are part of that, please give yourselves—and may we give you—a round of applause.
So, it is time indeed, though, to face the realities of 2025. Without question, North America has a new political and economic climate. There are threats to global trade. And how we are positioned, and where we’re going, having a strong Toronto Pearson is of critical importance to the local economy, and to our country, as well. So, it’s quite timely that today, we, when we planned this many months ago, that we are announcing new economic research that was done independently by Deloitte, Oxford Economics, and Trillium Network for Advanced Manufacturing. And what it reflects is that the trade corridors that line the skies into and around Pearson are more important to Canada than ever before. The good news is that they can expand and adapt quickly, and at Pearson in particular, we are cushioned with the diversity of our routes and our services. We have North America, we have a strong international base, we have a domestic base, as well. And that connects us to 70% of the world’s economies. How critical is that for you, and all of your business, in days where we are reshaping the future of trade in this present moment?
We carry 60% of Canada’s international passengers through our airport, and almost 50% of the air cargo destined in and out of our country. What an important role we play, in import and export economy. At Pearson alone, with those flights, that contributes $20 billion of gross domestic product, and supports 133,000 jobs across Canada. But it’s much, much more than that. It’s the area around the airport that we also look to, and say, what are we creating and stimulating, by virtue of having a global international hub airport, and its effect on passengers, cargo, supply chain, logistics, and business in general, that is the stimulation effect a great airport can provide to a region, or to a country? And the study revealed that the Pearson Airport Economic Zone is, indeed, a dynamic area. 18,000 businesses are centred in this area. 500,000 people work in the economic zone. And $70 billion of GDP is generated on an annual basis. And the economic zone area has grown. Since we last commissioned a study back in 2016, there are actually 100,000 more people working in the environment. So, it’s a magnet for continued growth and employment. And that’s something that’s really important at this time, especially, that we seek to see what works, and how we can expound upon that even more.
And when you say those numbers, $20 billion here, $75 billion there, it sounds like great numbers—like, they’re impressive numbers—but I always like to think about what does that mean? What’s the story of some of those employees behind that, the 500,000 people? And so, if we think about just 2,000 of those workers, 2,000 workers that began work here at Bombardier, and their new assembly plant that’s located at Pearson. And when they—that’s right, give it up for Bombardier. [Applause]And I will just say that Bombardier does know how to build jets to withstand lots of different forces, Canadian built and Canadian strong. That’s right. [Applause] And so, when they opened this assembly plant, being one of the most advanced assembly plants across the system of manufacturers, to build the global 7,500—which is actually the fastest and longest range business jet that is out on the market today, commercially—we reflected on the fact that very few airports, less than 10, is what we counted, actually have aircraft manufacturing in or adjacent to their site. But more importantly, those are airports reflecting countries. Very few countries have aircraft manufacturing located within that country. How well that speaks for our position, not just in aviation, but also for the future of aerospace, which is something that I think we have, we have tapped a lot and there are people in this room from the aerospace industry. We have a lot to be proud of, but so much more to look forward to. So, simple stories like what Bombardier is doing is expounded hundreds of times more with the businesses, your businesses that you are representing here today, and many, many more behind that.
So, in this date and climate, I would impress upon you, hope that you would see why Toronto Pearson is critical to the Canadian economy in today’s time. It is an enabler for all of us to collectively create new, and a better, and a more resilient economy and trade, in the days ahead. Especially with countries that are reciprocal in friendship and in nature.
We know, however, that there are threats to that today. We are years behind in investing in the airport, and having the infrastructure that prepares us for the future. We have a great story, in that the demand is there, even through the shocks and volatility that come in air travel. We recognize that. But we see that after every shock, the history of aviation reflects that not just does aviation recover, it actually increases in its demand, for a number of reasons: the human need to connect, the interwoven economies that we have. And so, we saw around the corner of this, three years ago, when we developed our 10-year strategic plan—and we’re in year three of that. The last two years have been about laying the foundation for our future vision, which we call LIFT, our Long-Term Investment in Facilities and Terminals. And we are already and we will begin to invest billions of dollars to grow, to restore, and to future-proof Toronto Pearson International Airport.
Now, when I speak about infrastructure, I’m sure that some of you in here start to get a little post-traumatic stress about infrastructure projects. And they are, no matter where you are in the world, the likelihood that they will come in over budget, they will be schedule-delayed, they will be painstaking in their implementation, and you may not live with the scope that you had set out to be. I think the latest number on infrastructure success, these are defined as projects over a billion dollars, is that more than 70% of them failed, in one aspect or another. And we recognize that, that it is no easy feat to deliver infrastructure. But it is essential that we all invest in, and that we are prepared to pay for, the modernization of our infrastructure in order to be competitive, in order to create new and better opportunities.
So, to help maybe dampen the post-traumatic stress, the anxiety that talking about a multi-billion-dollar program might provide to some of you here today, let me give you a slight vision about the end result, at the end of this decade-long program, the YYZ of tomorrow, where there’ll be incremental improvements and betterments along the way, but at the end, is an incredible vision. One where your terminals are going to be very spacious. While they’ll be large, they’ll be intuitive, and easy to navigate, gleaming, fresh, bright, and light. You will see space with revitalized washrooms, new baggage rooms, gates that can easily handle 25 million more passengers, which is what we are immediately forecast to need to accommodate. If you are a person that chooses a digital pathway for your airport travel, you will be able to have seamless flow throughout every process that you encounter at the airport, where there’ll be less of them. But your single biometric token will help carry you through consistently, reliably, every single time. And the choice of the amenities for you, whatever type of passenger you might be on your journey—and we know that the types of passengers are not the types of people, a single person can have many different profiles, depending on the nature, and the reason for their travel, as they go through our airport—no matter what type of passenger you might be on any day, the amenities are there for you the way that you would like them to be. And the aesthetics, and the art, and the cultural experience, create an environment that’s so rich and so appropriate for Canada, that you can take your pictures, and post them through your digital glasses that you might be wearing by that time.
And then for those of us that love the business, and love the engineering, when we look out across the airfield, not only do you see more digital tools deployed, and automation that helps make the jobs of our workers more efficient, you also see clean energy infrastructure, that speaks to both electric and hydrogen-powered ground vehicles, and sets a basis for the future of energy generation, not just for our building utilization, but also for the future of aircraft that may eventually happen over time. And our technology platforms are going to be brand new and state-of-the-art, that leverage both real-time data, good clean and protected data, and enabling our operations to reach entirely new levels of connectivity and efficiency, not just for the airport, but for how all of our partners across the ecosystem can run our business and deliver services in a way that will be fitting for beyond 2020.
And all of that equals a sense of place, as well as the signs that say, “Welcome to Canada.” Those are the signs. But the impression that you feel, as you enter and go through the airport, is that you are absolutely in the place to be—that place to be being Canada, a leading global country, one that’s built for the future, but one that also cares uniquely about you, and welcomes you warmly into our environment. LIFT is about creating that new built and digital environment. Yes, we’re going to have new terminals, both interim and permanent large-scale terminals, we’ll be restoring systems that the engineers love, HVAC, for example, and many others, and electrical systems out in our airfield, right? Some of these things will be seen; other of them will be experienced because the airport will be more reliable.
But LIFT is more than just the built environment; it’s also we are being very intentional about ensuring that LIFT will also lift up people, creating local jobs, and opportunities for Canadian businesses. What we say, and invite you to understand and participate in, is that the airport is the best living lab for technology pilots and partnerships, built on the deep technology experience that we have right here around us in our backyard, and across Canada.
When we look at this, there’s practically no choice, right? This is essential for our today, our tomorrow, and our future. So, you say, “Well, why? What happens if you don’t deliver LIFT? What happens if you go smaller? Maybe you Band-Aid this, and go a little bit slower, instead of such a big and bold ambition.” So, first you have to accept that the terminals, and the roadways, and all the aspects of your experience are going to continue to be overcrowded. Because the demand is coming; we’re going to get busier, and busier, and busier. And fitting all of that into our existing facilities is going to create visual, and actual real discomfort, and unreliability in your airport experience. And it might be counterintuitive, but I can attest this to you: no matter how many times—and if we were to clean some of our facilities constantly, throughout the day, 24/7, it would still not negate some of our facilities just looking like they are not clean. Because they’re ancient, they have 40 years of life to them, they are not today’s modern materials. And so, that’s going to be a challenge for people and their impression of Canada’s gateway. Delays and uncertainty about meeting and reaching gates, because there are not enough gates to serve the volume of business that we are being asked and need to accommodate.
But worse is actually the effect on the business, right? Today, we have 199 non-stops as I shared. But when you can’t accommodate the growth that is here, and that is coming, what happens? That growth will be distributed elsewhere. And what does that mean for us, and our population base? It means that, instead of those 199 non-stops, you start to have to get on smaller feeder aircraft, that then fly you to gleaming new LaGuardia, or the new Newark Airport Terminal, or Chicago, or JFK, for your travels to the Middle East, for your travel to Europe, for your travel to South America, and the Caribbean. That is not something that we concede. We have to maintain our competitive advantage for this country. Think about the impact on your cargo, not just the people, but cargo becoming longer to deliver inboard, inbound and outbound exports, and more expensive to do so, as well, because that connectivity would be lost. So, this is a fight not just to maintain our value proposition; it’s one to ensure that we grow the business, and seize the opportunity that we actually have right in front of us, to be able to deliver it for our country.
But we know that we have to deliver LIFT with excellence. That again, infrastructure delivery is challenging, and we go into that with our eyes wide open. Not just looking to partner with some of the best firms that we have right here, but we are also being very cost-focused, selected a model with, that reflects the construction environment of today, where the risk sharing and risk reward are more important. And partnering through a progressive design delivery model enables us to work with our construction development teams, and have on-ramps and off-ramps, and be agile in the development to respond to volatility and changes in technology, and opportunities across the program, as we implement it.
I’m also very proud to say that the executive team that I introduced you to earlier is a phenomenal one. The level of experience in airport infrastructure development is renowned. I can share with you that Bernardo Gogna is the most sought after and top infrastructure leader, having built airports in North America, Europe, and in Middle East, from the ground on up, and he is our Chief Infrastructure Officer; he has now got all of this responsibility on him. I say that in jest, but the entire executive team is here, is positioned, and is capable of working through those issues that we know that we will face. And we’ve built significant financial and risk resiliency into our approach. And of course, we have a strong board, as well, that’s highly experienced in infrastructure and risk mitigation, to help guide us through that.
It is an opportune time for us. Most recently, we received, and the country saw that there was clarification on the ability for airports to partner with the private sector. We’ve always employed private sector partnership and funding, but the opportunity now to work with some of our Canadian pension funds is also very opportune, particularly as we think about cargo, hangar development, energy generation. There are a number of really perfect projects that will lend themselves to those type of partnerships with pension funds in the near future.
So, the state of the airport today is a very good one. It certainly has its challenges, but it also has tremendous opportunity. For an airport like Toronto Pearson, which sits on land, the size of the largest busiest airport in the world, Atlanta Pearson—we have—Atlanta Airport. There is a tremendous—oh, that’s a new merger—there’s a, we have a tremendous opportunity, certainly, in front of us.
So, in closing, as we connect, and as you connect after this event this afternoon, there are a few things that we would put to you to consider. Maybe a bit of a call to action for all of us that are gathered here with jet fuel in our bloods, but more importantly, with Canada and its future, and its competitiveness, and its economic security, and a promise of the future for ourselves and our generations to come, that we think about just some small things here that we can do, relative to the country’s gateway airport. And so, first—pretty low-hanging fruit, for our business leaders—is share the opportunity, share the vision that we have presented here today, that you heard about. Share that with your networks, particularly for the small, the medium, and the large local businesses. There are so, a tremendous number of opportunities that we want to see lots of robust competition and participation in, across the entire infrastructure. It’s not just about, have you had experience building airports—that’s very few, and that’s very rare—but whether it’s in the technology, or in roadways, or cement, or trucking, and other supportive types of business, arts and culture. These are all going to be our partners in the years ahead, and create opportunities for, again, our local businesses.
But let’s also work together on the future of the Pearson Economic Zone. You know, we see robust airport cities around the world. Many of you travel through them, and you see thriving environments around those cities. It’s quite proven that the airport in any city and region can be this economic stimulator. And so, what might the Economic Zone look like, if we all collaborated a bit more intently, and focused on developing plans around multimodality, and transit infrastructure? What might the Pearson Economic Zone look like, if we were a significant spoke in all of the new transit lines that were coming across the region, whether that’s high-speed rail, whether that’s bus transit, additional rail transit in and around the area? What might coordinated real estate planning actually look like for all of us, to optimize the scarcity of land that exists around the airport?
You know, I believe in this room, I say there are many brilliant ideas that are currently disguised as complaints. So, what we want to do is, that’s right, convene—and you all are invested, in that now, remember? So, we want to convene the forums, and we plan to convene the forums with many of our association and industry partners that are here in the room, to actually dive deep into those discussions, and to develop some approaches that we’ve seen other countries and regions around the world do together, and then leapfrog forward into the futures for their countries, and their regions.
And because there’s so many government and community leaders in here, as well, there is also an ask that we have for you, which is: protect the airport, and in particular protect the employment lands around the airport. They are also rare. They’re full, there’s less than 1% vacancy in many areas. But there’s also opportunities for development around those. We need to preserve those lands, because once employment lands are ceded, they frankly just don’t come back. They become unaffordable to bring back into the fold. And the economic generation that comes from this, from your airport, is one that can support so much more outside of the economic zone and those employment lands.
Today, we also released with those study results the data hub, and a website that’s going to include the things that I’ve talked about here, but much, much deeper. And we’re calling it Canada’s Economic Runway. And we’ll also share more about those convening forums that we will have in the future, bringing Pearson, business, community and government together in a, in another level of a meaningful way, with our eyes set to the immediate and to the horizon beyond. I can say, on behalf of the entire team here that we are so proud to fly the flag for this country, to stand for this country’s values. Every single day we show up to create not just better journeys for each of you, safe journeys for all of you, but to create great economic potential opportunity and contribution for our country, as well, the communities that we serve. And we take that stewardship and service to heart every day and every night. So, thank you. This is the state of your airport today.
Jenna Donelson
Fantastic. Thank you, Deborah, for that great state of the airport. It’s clear that your work over the past couple of years have been comprehensive and transformative. Looking forward to what’s ahead. All right. To explore this further, we have a distinguished panel of industry leaders, who are bringing unique perspectives on what this transformation means for aviation, real estate, and the broader economy. So, joining us today we have Craig Landry, Executive Vice President and COO of Air Canada, Canada’s largest airline, at a time of significant industry change, and global competition. We also have Blair Wolk joining us, President of Orlando Corporation, whose expertise in industrial real estate and development is shaping how businesses grow in and around the Pearson Economic Zone. And finally, we have with us our moderator, John Stackhouse, Senior Vice President in the Office of the CEO at RBC. We all know him for bringing deep insights into economic trends, policy, and innovation. Will you join me, in welcoming our panel to the stage?
John Stackhouse, Senior Vice President, Office of the CEO, RBC
All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Sounds good. What a fantastic presentation, Deb. That was, that was excellent. And a real honour to have 20, 25 minutes here for conversation. We’re going to take questions from the audience—I’ll get them up here, and insert them, as we’re having this conversation. We all know we are in an incredibly important and challenging moment for Canada, and for our economy. We at RBC are spending a lot of time talking to our clients, thinking about the economy, researching the challenges, as well as the opportunity, and seeing a clear need for historic investments in export infrastructure. And when we say that, people think of ports often, and rail, given our plentiful coastline. But we need to think of airports, as well, which is critical export infrastructure—we’ll need tens of billions of dollars. If you want to track our research, just follow RBC Trade Hub, just Google RBC and Trade Hub, and you’ll find lots more from our research team there.
But Deb, I want to kick off putting a question back to you that you put to the audience, on envisioning what the economy can look like, if and when LIFT goes forward. I don’t think we appreciate the 45% of air cargo in Canada goes through Pearson. It’s an export gateway. Take us a bit into the future, and tell us what not only the economy of the GTAA can look like, but given that you connect with the economy right across the country as a transit hub, what’s in it for Canada’s economy?
Deborah Flint
Well, if you just take the base numbers from today, 70 billion of economic impact around the economic zone, 20 billion direct impact from Pearson, and its flight operations, and cargo, and just increase that by 50%, right? Because it’s actually a pretty uniform formula. And so, you know, what that entails is more economics impact, more GDP, an increase in jobs. And we have to enable that, across the infrastructure. We have the land, as I’ve said, but we also need to create the plan around how to optimize that land, and ensure that we can meet demands. Many people on this stage today are looking for expansion. You know, so we’re going to be focused on hangar development, to ensure that it’s not just about hangaring, and where you keep the aircraft, but actually, developing the maintenance and repair operations businesses that need to be here, and those are job generation. We really appreciate how important we are to the supply chain—that was demonstrated, particularly, after the pandemic. Cargo was critically important to the country. So, our investments in the LIFT program, the infrastructure that supports people movement, supports cargo movement, are really essential. They’re not a question, per se. Like, we have to provide that role for the country.
John Stackhouse
Well, let’s bring in a couple of your partners, because both Air Canada, we’re all familiar with, but Orlando, one of the biggest landlords around the airport zone, and a longtime partner with Pearson. Craig and Blair, we’d love to get your thoughts on what LIFT, and the airport expansion over the longer term, does to your strategic thinking. Craig, maybe we can start with you, from Air Canada’s perspective.
Craig Landry, Executive Vice President & COO, Air Canada
Sure. Thanks for the invitation. [Remarks in French] You know, Pearson is incredibly important to Air Canada. I mean, this is, you know, we are the biggest tenant, the biggest operator; it is our global hub. And so, the expansion of the airport that Deborah talked about today, and the LIFT Program, is of critical and strategic importance to Air Canada. There are two things—you know, we want to grow our business, ultimately, and there are many things that are required for an airline to be able to grow, but probably, the two things that come to mind, the most complex, and the most time-consuming, the longest-term investments, are: fleet and infrastructure.
So, fleet is on the airline—and we’ve been very focused, Air Canada’s been public about our plan, which includes $18 billion in investment over the next four years. We’ll be bringing in 90 new aircraft into our fleet, which is very significant—some of them are coming a little bit later than we would have liked; if you’ve been following the aircraft manufacturing industry, there’s been some challenges. But we’ll be bringing in a wide range of aircraft, Airbus, 321 XLRs, Boeing, 787-10s, all of which are international overseas operators. Aircraft, as well as some narrow body aircraft, as well. These aircraft have been purchased years ago, they are many years in the making, and they’re coming. And they’ll start in 2026, 26, 27, 28, and 29. We have tremendous growth that’s on the way. So, that’s the fleet part, and that’s the commitment that Air Canada has made.
The next piece that you really need, you know, to support that is the infrastructure. And as Deborah talked about earlier, some of the infrastructure is starting to get closer to capacity than we would like, and so this is a matter of importance. We’re not just talking about, you know, everything from runways to gates, to terminals, to, you know, customs, to security—all of it is required to be able to enable that growth. And we have a large network, you know? We have 177 destinations, we operate worldwide, we have 17,000 employees in Toronto. We have an operating expenditure footprint of 4.8 billion—you know, that’s the economic investment that we make sort of, in that market in Toronto specifically—we carry 15 million seats in and out of Toronto every year, we carry two million foreign tourists in, and they spend $1.7 billion. So, it’s significant, and so we wanna continue to grow that. And to do that, we need fleet and we need infrastructure, and that’s probably why it’s so critically important to us.
John Stackhouse
And Blair, give us some of Orlando’s thinking, as you’re a very long-term investor; you’ve been around for decades with Pearson. When you think of the decades ahead, what opportunities do you have in mind?
Blair Wolk, President, Orlando Corporation
Well, first off, thank you very much for the invitation to be part of this esteemed group. I mean, we have two groups that are very public-facing; Orlando’s very much the opposite. I mean, we’re sort of behind the scenes doing what we do, and providing space to, to users, really. We are the developer, and owner, and landlord; we aren’t the users of the space. But the founder of the company, Orey Fidani, in the 1960’s, went out to Moulton Airport, to create a business park, a 650-acre master planned community for businesses. People told him he was crazy, at the time, but he felt, with his vision, he knew that there was some importance of locating out near the airport. And of course, all these decades later, we’ve seen what has become, and we’ve developed north of the airport, and immediately west of the airport, as well, with about 12 million square feet, in and thereabouts, just around the airport, and of course, more further afield.
So, we believe in the airport, and we believe in the plans of the airport, and we know that businesses coalesce around the airport, as well. We also know that just being in the western part of the GTA is helpful, from an industrial standpoint, because the largest land entry into Canada is still through Detroit-Windsor border, where there’s a lot of travel, a lot of cargo, different kind of cargo, land cargo that comes in. But obviously, the time-sensitivity of certain goods that need to come into the country, coming in through Pearson, we believe for the decades ahead that it’s still gonna be the best place, frankly, to locate. We have buildings that were built in the 1960’s and 1970’s, at that time, largely around manufacturing, and they’ve become dysfunctional, at this point. And over the last 15 years, we looked at repositioning those buildings to keep up with modern times, and create modern cube buildings, and we see more manufacturing in those new modern buildings, such as MHI, they build wings for Bombardier, and they’re one of our tenants. So, we—just going back to the original question, in terms of long-term vision—we truly believe in continuing to have this focus and this investment in the airport, and we believe it’ll bring even more businesses and higher-order jobs, frankly, to the area, as well.
Deborah Flint
Yeah. I appreciate what Blair said, too—that your modern airport, which we are not insular about, it’s just aviation, right? That positioning that you reflected, right? Which is the highway system, the rail system, all of those contribute to the economic zone. And seeing those serve even further is actually part of the airport’s vision of the future, which is of multimodality.
John Stackhouse
Hearing you all speak, I’m thinking of a couple of clients for RBC that I’ve been able to spend time with in the area—Blair, I don’t know if they’re tenants of yours or not—but one is a significant hummus manufacturer; the other makes croissants and muffins almost entirely for the US market, employing collectively hundreds of people, in that area, getting it through your airport, probably getting it onto your planes, to Chicago or Atlanta, same-day service. And when we hear numbers, which can sound anodyne, but 500,000 people working around Pearson, that’s 25% growth in, I think, just eight or nine years. It’s, it’s extraordinary. You’ve got visions, Deborah, to grow that, as we’ve heard. What are some of the challenges to fulfilling that vision, in your mind?
Deborah Flint
You know, there’s, if you look at the history of aviation, you don’t have to look back too far, to know that we get on incredible highs. You know, airlines are set to generate a trillion dollars in revenue, for the first time this year. And even with the volatility that, you know, we see happening, that’s not changing—like, that forecast is still intact. But I remember three months, or the year after I started at Pearson, said am I, “Oh, I can’t wait to deliver $2 billion of revenue.” Yeah, I delivered like a couple hundred thousand, because the airport was shut down. So, we have major shocks that happen in the system. But what do we know about that? Again, the demand does always come back, but it’s important to have resiliency built in. It’s important to anticipate the shocks to the system, and the downturns, and be able to keep a program that can deliver throughout that.
So, that’s, you know, certainly part of the things that we think about, in making sure there’s proper risk mitigation with our financial plan, that we deliver facilities both that are restoration and positioning for the new, with cost and affordability as number one. That’s inherent in how we think about infrastructure. It is a cost business, it’s a competitive business, as I’ve said. So, like with any other business, we have to be competitive around our value, and the cost for providing that value, as well.
John Stackhouse
You also touched on the infrastructure challenge of being on time and on budget. You’ve done major projects. What do you have in mind, to overcome those challenges?
Deborah Flint
Yeah, you know, we worked very hard about what type of delivery models we were gonna impart for the three mega projects that are part of LIFT, and looked at the market today, you know, where there was an era where the client, the asset owner, had a lot of leverage over the construction program and its delivery. And today, the model is much more about shared partnership. Working collaboratively with architects, designers, and the developer and engineers, very early on in the project, to be able to see and understand all the risks, and build the proper contingencies, and solution, and create great opportunities from projects together. But at the same time, have risk and reward sharing as part of the project. And so, our progressive design delivery model is really important.
Underpinning all of that is actually having really great relationships. Great relationships to make sure that the workforce, that we need to and will employ across many different sectors, trades, as well as professionals, see this as an incredible project, a legacy program to be part of, and an environment where they can learn, grow, and thrive. So, our stakeholder partnerships with academia, to create workforce opportunities, career opportunities, and working in formal ways. But also, just seeing what success looks like for our other partners, I think are just critical learnings from other projects that can help to make this one a great one.
QUESTION & ANSWER
John Stackhouse
So, we’ve got some great questions flowing in from the audience. If you want to add your questions, just use the QR code on the back of your leaflet on the table. This one maybe can be touched on by all three of you—even though I think it’s directed to you, Deborah. How does an international airport adapt to tariff threats, in a highly integrated and connected network?
Deborah Flint
I think the two of us might be able to have some…
John Stackhouse
The question on everyone’s mind, and…
Deborah Flint
…some comment to that.
John Stackhouse
…how are you thinking through this challenge?
Deborah Flint
Well, as I shared, we always have a plan every year for different volumes of traffic, and different threats that we may face one way or another. And so, we have that in place already for our budget, and our plan for 2025, which is: what if there is lower volume than anticipated? How do we stay the course on our strategy? And we just spoke about that, actually, with our board this morning, so I’m very confident about our ability to do that there.
You know, what is it saying right now? You can pick up your news and reports, and you’re gonna see many different things. You’re gonna see that, you know, there’s some softening in the market—we saw that in February. We see softening in March, in our passenger volumes, but not significant. Then you can also pick up a feed that says it’s gonna drop 20 or 30% in travel, either across North America or across the world. We’re prepared for that, as well. But what I can say is, we’re not seeing drastic drops in travel demand yet today. We are seeing some shifting of services and where markets that are south are softening a bit, we’re seeing aircraft being redeployed, new routes and additional seats being added to Europe, and being added to South America, and Latin, as well as to the islands, and to, you know, essentially, the EMEA regions, as well. So, right at this point, like it’s….
John Stackhouse
Do you think those are long-term shifts, that are starting to form?
Deborah Flint
Long-term is, you know, I don’t know what that is in this industry, except for the projects that we build. This industry has had to become much more nimble. And that’s the beauty of what I call our air trade corridors, is that they can shift and adapt readily to the environment.
John Stackhouse
Craig and Blair, how are you thinking through the tariff challenge?
Craig Landry
I mean, from Air Canada’s perspective, really, it’s a question of the resilience that was mentioned earlier of the business model. So, if you think, for example, of the potential weakness that we might see, for example, for Canadians travelling to the US, you know, first of all, the US for Air Canada is about 25% of our business, domestic Canada’s about 25, and 50% is all of our flights to Europe, Asia, Middle East, South America, and elsewhere. So, even just looking at the US, for example, there are at least three different sort of macrosegments that we have: we have Canadians that are travelling to the US, we also have Americans that are travelling to Canada, and we also have what we call six freedom traffic, which is international-to-international, which has been a very big part of Air Canada’s strategy, and has led to a tremendous amount of connectivity at Toronto Pearson, by the way, and a lot of jobs that came with that, is as a result of people flying, let’s say, from Los Angeles to Rome on Air Canada, connecting through Toronto, or people flying from Tokyo to São Paulo, Brazil via Toronto. And so, that international to international connecting traffic is also important.
So, while we might see a softening in one segment on one portion of our business, it is not meaningful enough at this point that we can’t accommodate by some shifting round of capacities, some shifting of frequencies, which, frankly, is a very normal thing to happen in the airline business. We often see disruption, whether it’s been disruption in the Middle East, in Israel, the closure of Russia overflight—there has been many, many examples of disruption that we build. And our challenge is to build a highly resilient business model, with a global network and multiple flows of traffic, that give us the levers to be able to be resilient in the face of something like this.
John Stackhouse
And Blair, you and I were talking about this before lunch—you were talking to your clients, just like we’re talking to our clients. No one knows; a lot of uncertainty out there. But you’re also a very long-term investor, and I was impressed with your confidence in the Toronto Region, to continue to invest. You see long-term growth here, despite these maybe near-term headwinds.
Blair Wolk
Yeah. If I were to tell you I wasn’t worried about tariffs, I would be lying for sure. We are solely concentrated in the GTA, a portfolio of close to 50 million square feet of industrial product, so tariffs definitely are on our mind. As we reach out to our various tenants, whether they’re manufacturers, or exporters to the US, or importers, we ask the same question, you know: what are you going to do about this situation, if tariffs are applied to your product? And the answer is they just don’t know, at this point in time. I think most of them are trying to come up with some contingency plans. We have some businesses that will be winners, because they don’t deal with the US, and they import from elsewhere, and so, they’re gonna see an increase in their business; there’s others that are really focused on their export to the US, and they will certainly be impacted. But by and large, our business, the warehouses that we own and manage are really focused on distribution within the GTA and across Canada.
So, I think that as long as our population continues to grow, we’ll continue to service the population that’s here. Will there be a slowdown? You know, if there’s tariffs applied, sure, there would be. But like you said, we are a long-term, we have a long-term vision. We truly believe in the GTA market, all the lands in the GTA. I mean, this is really the epicentre of growth for Canada. We have our challenges, to be sure: affordability being a big problem, access to resilient power supply is a problem. But we, for the long-term, truly do believe in this market, and we’ll get through this issue, if you wanna see it that way, like others, and we’ll get on the other side of it, and we’ll be okay.
John Stackhouse
That’s a great, great vote of confidence. So much more we could talk about, but I know everyone’s gotta get on with their, their afternoons, and we’re just about time. But Craig and Deborah, I think you’ve, you’re working on some exciting developments between Air Canada and GTAA. I wonder if, Craig, you might…
Craig Landry
Sure.
John Stackhouse
…share a bit with us.
Craig Landry
Well, I mean, you know, listen, you know, at the end of the day, the airline business is not that complex: it’s about destinations, and routes, and markets that we’re able to serve. And so, you know, we’ve been able to see a lot of growth over the last few years. We’ve added service into Toronto, namely Sacramento, Charleston, North Carolina, Jacksonville, to Europe, we’ve added Brussels, we’ve added Stockholm, in Asia, we’ve added Mumbai, Osaka. So, these are all, you know, growing markets that we’ve been seeing. This year, we’ll be adding Prague to our network, as well as Rio de Janeiro. So, our business continues to grow, and that’s an important part of our collaboration with Deborah, and the GTAA.
John Stackhouse
That’s fantastic. Deborah, if there’s one thing people should keep in mind, as they leave today, what would you like it to be?
Deborah Flint
You know, I’d say have confidence, and be proud of what we all have here collectively. When I came here from Los Angeles, there are a number of reasons—I have amazing family here, and I love the city of Toronto. I think it’s an incredible city.
John Stackhouse
You were born in the Golden Horseshoe, right?
Deborah Flint
In Hamilton. Yes. Yes.
John Stackhouse
I think people may not know that.
Deborah Flint
And I think, you know, people say, “Why would you leave Los Angeles to come here?” And I’m like, that’s the wrong question. You have to be very proud of what we have here. I love, many people love Toronto, and think it’s esteemed and revered. And what I saw, in addition to the personal, was a region that had ambition in the past, and had built on that ambition. It had built a world-class airport, that served far more than just the population base. It had connected rail to it. We have to have that ambition today for our future, and go through the challenges of investing in infrastructure, but make it work for us. And indeed we can. And deliver on that future—it’s never been more important than today. But we should be confident that we need to do it, and we should have confidence in the fact that we can do it, and we’re here to do it now.
John Stackhouse
That’s a great message. Blair, Craig, Deborah, thanks so much for the conversation. Jenna, we’re hand it back to you.
Jenna Donelson
Thank you, John, Deborah, Craig, and Blair. I’m gonna invite you to take your seats, while we close out. Let’s give our panel one more round of applause, for that great conversation. I think what a great note, to end on what Deborah said: part of Pearson’s transformation is in fact part of Canada’s transformation; we should be ambitious.
As I’ve said before, this event would not be possible without the support of our sponsors. Wipro has been a leader in driving digital innovation and transformation across industries. I’m delighted that they’re here today to support today’s discussion on modernization and growth, and I’m pleased to introduce Anudeep Kambhampati, General Manager at Wipro, to deliver appreciation remarks. Welcome to the stage, Anudeep.
Note of Appreciation by Anudeep Kambhampati, General Manager, Wipro
Wow. That was a very insightful and thought-provoking panel discussion. Thank you. Very good afternoon, everyone. I’m Anudeep Kambhampati, general manager of the transportation business of Wipro Canada, and we take great pride in being in a long-term IT strategic partner of Pearson Airport, right? It’s an honour to address such a distinguished group of leaders from business, aviation, and development communities.
First, I wanna take a moment, and extend my sincere gratitude to Empire Club, and the GTAA, for bringing us, all of us together here. The discussion we had underscores the power of collaboration in sharing the, or in shaping the future of our cities, our economies, and global connectivity. I’ve had the privilege of working with Deborah Flint from the day one, when she joined GTAA February 2020, right? Just before 20 days of the pandemic, right? And that is one of the most challenging moments of the entire aviation industry, right? I’ve witnessed firsthand her resilience, vision, and the leadership in navigating Pearson through these challenging moments, and the crisis that we’ve ever had in the past. Under her direction, Pearson not only achieved an almost full recovery to the pre-pandemic levels, but also being recognized as one of the most innovative, forward-thinking airport in the world.
Today, Pearson is—I actually wanted to say true North American hub, but actually, we are evolving into an international hub, right? And it’s setting new benchmarks in the efficiency, as well as excellence, right? And now, with Pearson LIFT, she’s leading us into the next chapter, and one of the growth, opportunity, and community impact. Thank you, Deborah, for your leadership, and thank you GTAA board and executive leadership, for helping us to go through this, and in building the future.
With global major events such as FIFA World Cup next year on the horizon, the demand for state-of-the-art solutions and technology, our construction, our infrastructure, has never been more pressing. I’m excited about the collective opportunity before us, to ensure Toronto Pearson is prepared to welcome the world, and serve as a catalyst for regional economic development.
Beyond technology, what truly inspires us is the people. The workforce, the local businesses are small or medium businesses, and the communities that make the Pearson a thriving hub. At Wipro, we believe in purpose-driven approach to business. In fact, for every dollar of Wipro’s profits, almost 67% goes to kids’ education, sustainability, and social programs that create lasting impact. That’s 67% of our profitability. And that’s why Pearson LIFT resonates so deeply with us. This initiative is about more than just infrastructure; i’s about uplifting people, and it’s about creating jobs, fostering opportunities, and ensuring that the airport remains an engine of economic and social progress for the entire region. We’re all fortunate to be here to support this truly transformative journey, and contribute to its success.
We close today’s discussion with, let’s carry forward this momentum, and continue to innovate, collaborate, and build future where connectivity drives prosperity for all. Thank you.
Concluding Remarks by Jenna Donelson
Thank you, Anudeep, for those remarks, and for Wipro’s support of this event. Before we close out, I’d like to take a moment to recognize, I know we have some elected officials and some dignitaries in the room. Please join me, in recognizing them. And I’d also like to recognize another special group of people. We have our students and young leaders in the room—I know we have students here from Queen’s University. We’re so glad you’re here with us today.
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And I hope you will join us for two exciting upcoming events. On April 10th, we are welcoming Nicolle Butcher from Ontario Power Generation, for her first major address as CEO. She’s gonna outline her vision for OPG. And the fireside chat will be moderated by Amanda Galbraith, partner at Oyster Group. And on April 15th, we are presenting “The AI Revolution, What’s Next for Law, Finance, and Accounting.” So, join a panel of experts as they discuss the challenges, strategies, risks, and opportunities of integrating AI into professional services. Tickets for both events are on sale now.
As a club of record, all Empire Club events are available to watch and listen to on our website. A recording of this event will be available shortly.
Thank you all for being a part of this important conversation. I wish you a lovely afternoon ahead. This meeting is now adjourned. And head table, will you please join me on the stage for a photo? Thank you, everyone.
