Well, first of all, the article you link to is a column, not a news reporter, and is labelled as such, so opinion is allowed to be expressed. But either way the damning paragraph you chose isn't terribly damning in my opinion...
The first sentence you bold doesn't seem terribly odd in the context of the column's (often annoyingly) conversational style. Seventy people is big "when you think about it" if you're thinking of the small planes that normally fly out of Toronto Island... (Far more irritating stylistically is the opening to the story: "It's 6 p.m. at Lobby. You know, Lobby, the chic bar on Bloor St. W. that thrusts itself open to the street, with its daring and overstuffed white furniture, its salon demeanour." Ugh.)
Your second quibble is, I think, misplaced. One of the things one of my high school teachers drummed into me ad nauseum is how the word "but" effectively undercuts whatever comes before it. When someone writes "Some unnamed people think A, but Expert McExpertise says B," we are generally inclined to believe Expert McExpertise. You might have an argument if Jennifer Wells had written, "A spokesperson for Transport Canada says the Q400 'can manoeuvre and land safely on a 4,000-foot runway.' But some have complained that the craft is too big for the short takeoff and landing, or STOL, requirements of the airport."

A few things, JKN:

When the article is presented as written by "Jennifer Wells, Business Columnist," as on the website, it's a weak column. When it's presented as written by just plain "Jennifer Wells," as it is in the print version I read, it's a weak piece that could be either news or opinion. I was less concerned with what it was supposed to be than with what it is: weak.

"Seventy people is big "when you think about it" if you're thinking of the small planes that normally fly out of Toronto Island."

I'll take your word for it. Problem is, I wasn't thinking about that.

The Dash-8s AC Jazz flew out of YTZ until recently sat 37 and 50, which isn't that much smaller than Porter's new planes (when you think about it, har har).

My point about the length of the runway at YTZ is that it was too stupid an episode even to be dignified as "so-and-so said it might not be safe and so-and-so said it definitely is." It certainly calls for much more dismissal than a mere "but" can provide.

I'm still taken by the marvellous absurdity that even today in the 21st Century, the Toronto Star manages to be generally regarded as a medium-to-high brow newspaper.

To be honest, I was interested in the article, but quite as soon as I got to the very very opening, the "you know, Lobby" bit that JKelly mentions - I couldn't go past that. WTF? I can name 6 people off the top of my head - a dozen actually - who could all write better than the Star.

I agree with you that it IS kind of cool to have a little airport downtown. I love to be on the Island at those moments when you can see bustling on the Gardiner (but no other cars in sight - like it's the only road), and a boat or three, and an airplane taking off - it's like Fritz Lang's Metropolis. I LOVE having an Island airport.

I do think we should be very very careful and cautious in how big we want the airport to be. While I LOVE it, I don't want a "too-big" one. And I'm not big on a bridge, the ferry is fine - it's part of the kinda cool quotient of having an island airport. I mean, if it's such a big huge deal, why don't we just build it by Liberty Village or somewhere else on the shoreside?

I *love* the Porter uniforms, btw.