Commentary
The Liberal government is running perilously low on money.
The spring economic update celebrated a deficit lower than had been projected but still contained a fiscal shortfall that can only be called massive. This likely inspired the government to pitch the notion of privatizing Canada’s airports for the second time in a year. Funds from the sale of airport infrastructure could be used to reduce government debt or to add to the planned sovereign wealth fund. Nearly 20 percent of the world’s airports are privately owned, and it comes with risks and benefits.
Currently, Canada’s major airports are federally owned, and 21 of them are operated by not-for-profit airport authorities. The annual revenue from leasing the airports is approximately $512 million. Privatizing the airports would lead to an end to that revenue, but could bring a much-needed injection of tens of billions of dollars into the government coffers….