but was never used against Pickering, although it is claimed that it applied there equally well. Political decisions favouring a new airport over expansion of the existing airport Well into the 1970s, the Department of Transport remained adamant that Malton could not be expanded, citing noise and safety concerns. However, there were also political reasons behind the federal government's wish to build a second airport. Representatives of the local anti-airport protest group, People or Planes, meeting in Ottawa in 1972 with Transport Minister Jean Marchand, were told by him that he did not want to be the "French Canadian who could be accused of not giving an airport to Ontario after having given one to Quebec [Mirabel]". Together with Minister Marchand's desire to give Toronto what he had just given Montreal, there was the advice of chief consultant Philip Beinhaker, of Peat Marwick and Partners, who, while admitting a preference for expanding Malton, had pronounced the expansion "politically unsaleable", in part because Malton and a vocal group of anti-expansion residents there were in Premier-in-waiting William Davis's electoral riding. Within months of the halt to construction at Pickering, new federal Transport Minister Otto Lang was announcing that no new air carriers would be allowed at Malton for at least five years. Malton's general manager accused federal officials of stalling improvements to the airport as a way of making Ontario reverse its position and provide support infrastructure for Pickering after all. In November 1978, Minister Lang told the House of Commons that Malton would not be expanded, and a study into a possible fourth runway was stopped. The interdiction did not last. Over the years, Toronto Pearson International has been expanded to five runways, with a sixth runway planned. Air passenger forecast inaccuracies Numerous studies were undertaken in the late 1960s to determine whether Canada's airports could deal with future air passenger volumes. At Malton, passenger numbers in 1970 totalled 6.4 million, but consultants' forecasts for the turn of the century ranged from 25 million to 198 million. The federal government's plans for Malton and Pickering were ultimately based on an anticipated 60 million to 96 million passengers through Toronto by 2000. In 2000, Toronto Pearson International processed about 28 million passengers. By 2003, owing to international crises, that number had dropped to just over 24 million. By 2014, passenger numbers had climbed to nearly 39 million, about 62% of the 62