Officials Pension Teachers of Ontario were arrested.
A group of Belgians are asking administrators of Pension Teachers of Ontario to make a move to stop the comings and goings of commercial aircraft in the skies of downtown Brussels.
This unusual case is due to the fact that Canadian pension fund holds more than a third of the local airport at the center of the flight path controversy.
Commercial aircraft normally use the flight paths that disturb residents as little as possible, but in February, the Belgian government decided to do otherwise by requiring aircraft to fly new flight paths over the capital.
However, it triples the number of people affected by noise.
Did you know?
- Retirement System of Teachers of Ontario Pension Plan (OTPP), or Ontario Teachers Pension Plan (OTPP), colloquially known in this province as Teachers, is a manager of institutional funds in Ontario, the second largest in Canada!
- The OTPP is responsible for administering and investing the pension funds of teachers working in public schools in Ontario.
- With assets under management of $ 140.8 billion at December 31, 2013, the Pension Plan for Teachers of Ontario is also the largest pension plan addressing one profession in Canada.
- It administers the pensions of 307,000 active and retired teachers in Ontario.
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Brussels residents are lobbying from all sides
Antoine Wilhelmi is one of Brussels residents who argue against this trajectory change of planes over his city.
It represents the movement “Pas Question!” [No Way!] which is asking the teachers’ pension funds to put pressure on the airport and the elected members of the Belgian government to re-think their decision.
“Imagine that the (Canadian) Federal Government directed 50% of the planes taking off from Toronto airport over the city center. And everything to relieve the periphery! “
His group believes that the Ontario Teachers must act on this matter, since the airport has no control over the trajectory of the aircraft.
Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Federal Public Service Mobility Belgium, Laurent Ledoux, confirms that the Belgian airport has little power.
“First there was the political level, it is primarily in this level that all these discussions today take place,” he says.
The Belgian government says it is open to revision, but rejects the idea of returning to the old paths.
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Checklist …
- Brussels Airport Airport since October 19, 2006 is located twelve kilometers north-east of Brussels.
- It is mainly used for European flights and international flights to Africa, Asia, the Americas or even the Middle East.
- Brussels Airport is the first airport in Belgium and the fourteenth European airport.
- It is managed by the Brussels Airport Company, owned 39% of Canadian pension fund Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan.
- The airport has a capacity of about 35 million passengers per year.
- Its location in the middle of an area of high urbanization (1 200 inhabitants per km2) and the pollution it generates does not allow optimal development.
- It considers that the airport currently work (2013) about 50% of its maximum capacity.
View of the airport taken from a satellite – Wikipedia
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Earlier:
“Pas Question!” [“No Way!”] group in Brussels fights the hated Wathelet Plan flight path changes
On 6th February this year, Melchior Wathelet (Belgium’s secretary of state in charge of Environment, Energy and Mobility) introduced a plan that reorganizes the departure routes from Brussels airport in Zaventem. As a result of this “Wathelet Plan”, the majority of departing aircraft are routed over densely populated areas of central and southern Brussels. The changes are deeply controversial and deeply unpopular among the Brussels residents, who have not been intensively over-flown before. There is huge anger about the changes, and that the numbers over-flown are now far higher than before. On the plus side, some areas that were previously over-flown now have fewer flights. Now almost 18,000 residents have signed a petition to suspend the Wathelet Plan. Its opponents say it was introduced without any prior consultation with local residents, and that in other EU countries, such a consultation process is a regulatory requirement before any change to aircraft flight paths is made. An active group called “Pas Question!” – which means “No Way!” has formed, and they regard the new flight paths as nonsensical. They want the plan cancelled, and are convinced that an alternative policy is possible.
Click here to view full story…
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Earlier:Protest in Brussels as new flight paths over-fly new areas, giving some respite to those previously heavily over-flown
8.4.2014 . In Brussels there has, for a long time, been a problem because of the division between the French speaking south of the city, and the Flemish speaking north. The airport is to the north east of the city, and traditionally the people living to the north have complained bitterly that they have had a disproportionate number of flights, while many affluent areas to the south have had no over-flying. From the 6th February the government has brought in new flight paths, which disperse take-offs towards the west, so more fly over the areas to the south of the city. Flights start at 6am and continue to 11pm, though the new routes are meant to not be used for Saturday evening and during Sunday, if there isn’t a strong westerly wind. There has been huge protest in Brussels about this change, with furious citizens incensed that their peace, and their quality of life has been reduced. The changes have brought some relief to the other areas which previously took more than their fair share of the noise. Petitions and protests have been set up, and it is uncertain what will happen next. The situation is complicated by Belgian politics, and the separate interests of Flemish and Walloon sections of society. https://www.airportwatch.org.uk/?p=20890… .
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