OTTAWA – Prime Minister Mark Carney has announced a funding model which would see Canada’s federally-owned and operated airports become 100% privately owned, but still get half a billion dollars of taxpayer money from time to time whenever they feel like it.
Pointing to the overwhelming and ongoing success of Air Canada, Prime Minister Mark Carney announced his government is considering pursuing a similar model.
“The government shouldn’t be in the business of owning and running airports,” said Carney. “This shift in ownership will allow the private sector to run airports more efficiently without cost to the taxpayer, except for when something bad happens or it’s a slow travel year or something like that and we need to toss them a quick 600 mill.”
Proponents say that privatizing Canada’s airports would also help encourage investment and improve customer experience.
“When flying in Canada, most Canadians only have one airport to choose from as a result of the government’s publicly-owned monopoly of airports,” explained one industry watcher. “By privatizing airports, we’ll have the exact same lack of competition, but private.”
The government also stressed that privatization would free up government capital for other important projects, like bailing out oil pipeline projects and American auto companies.
While some critics have pointed to Australia’s massive hike in airfare that resulted from privatizing airports, the government pointed to other smaller success stories.
“Many Canadians don’t realize that almost every aspect of Canadian airports is privatized already, we’re just taking things the rest of the way,” said a press officer for Transport Canada. “Airport dining, airplane food delivery, airport bathroom cleaning services, airport security – it’s all subcontracted to privately-owned companies, and just look at how well those are doing!”
At press time, the government announced that they had signed an exclusive, $100 billion dollar deal selling all 26 Canadian major airports to Brookfield Properties.
