The Globe and Mail reports in its Wednesday edition that Ottawa bowed to a "small fringe group" when it announced it would block the province's push for a massive expansion of Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to allow commercial jets, Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria said Tuesday. The Globe's Jeff Gray quotes Mr. Sarkaria saying: "We've seen the federal government here listen to a small fringe group in Toronto. But we as the province will continue to push forward on modernization of this airport." Late last Friday, Transport Minister Steven MacKinnon issued a statement saying Ottawa would not proceed with the plan "at this stage." Mr. MacKinnon said the government had received more than 87,000 responses, mostly from Torontonians, with an overwhelming majority against the expansion. Opponents have argued that the proposal to allow jets at tiny Billy Bishop -- and 10 million passengers a year, more than five times the current number -- would spoil the Toronto Islands, harm the harbour and the rest of the city's waterfront and create traffic headaches. Premier Doug Ford had made the expansion a top priority for his government. Among the opponents to the airport's expansion is Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow.