the airport expansion, however, after the election, the government appointed several Tory party members to the board. In December 2008 and January 2009, the party nominated two further party members to the TPA board after the City of Toronto named its representative to the TPA board. Former TPA CEO Lisa Raitt became the Conservative MP for Halton Region, and was named Minister of Natural Resources. In September 2009, Minister of Transport John Baird named a party fund-raiser to the board. Liberal Party of Canada The TPA was created while the Liberal Party of Canada was in power (1999). Several Toronto Liberal MPs were strong supporters of the TPA including Dennis Mills, Tony Ianno and David Collenette. Under Prime Minister Paul Martin, the Liberals canceled construction of the airport bridge at the request of city council after the 2003 municipal election. This marked the second time that a Liberal Prime Minister cancelled a link to the airport. In the 1930s, the Liberals were the government in power that cancelled a tunnel linking the airport. In the 2006 federal election, several local Liberal MPs went on the record as opposing the airport expansion. The Liberals publicly criticized the appointment of Tory fundraiser Robert Poirier to the TPA Board as a 'patronage appointment.' New Democratic Party The New Democratic Party wants the agency shut down. Toronto Member of Parliament Olivia Chow, is the prime critic of the TPA and the airport expansion. Chow, whose riding includes the airport, wants control of the port passed to the city and has introduced a private member's bill to do so. Federal party leader Jack Layton, who represented a nearby riding, had stated that he wanted the auditor-general to investigate the settlement surrounding the failed airport bridge. Mayor David Miller The former mayor of Toronto, David Miller won his 2003 election partly on the campaign pledge to prevent "airport expansion" – the construction of a bridge connecting the airport to the mainland. Miller has stated publicly that he wants Toronto to regain control over the Port Authority: "I've never believed we needed a port authority," and "It doesn't really perform any function. Shipping is not at a level that it needs it." When discussing the creation of a new airline the mayor was quoted as saying: "This is a federal agency that is under federal control that has never respected the wishes of the people of the