Worsened conditions and higher fees? Finance minister calls airport privatization concerns ‘premature’

A federal government proposal to privatize Canada’s publicly-owned airports has been met with pushback from critics who say it will result in issues such as worsening labour conditions and higher passenger fees.

Federal Minister of Finance François-Philippe Champagne called those concerns “premature” on Tuesday during a visit to the Greater Moncton Roméo LeBlanc International Airport.

“You know, what we’ve just said is that we’re gonna look at a number of federal assets, we’re gonna get the information, get the data analyzed,” he told reporters in response to a query from the NB Media Co-op.

Privatization is generally defined as the transfer of a business, industry, or service from public to private ownership and control, a practice that organized labour has long opposed.

The finance minister stated that “not all airports would be suitable” for privatization, but he didn’t elaborate on which ones might go up for sale. He said the overall goal is to “provide better services to Canadians.”

He made the comments after speaking to a crowd of business people and Liberal Party members in the fire hall of the YQM Airport Operations Facility.

Attendees paid up to $100 for tickets to hear the high-powered cabinet minister speak at an event billed as an “important conversation on growth, resilience, trade, and opportunity.”

The event was organized by the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton and sponsored by the multinational consulting firm Deloitte and other companies.

The finance minister used his roughly hour-long talk to promote Liberal Party policies on matters such as military spending and AI, while touting Canada’s position in the world economy amid global instability.

Despite the event’s location, Champagne didn’t address airport privatization until an attendee asked him about the proposal during a question-and-answer session at the end of his talk.

He told the crowd that governments need to “modernize” their approach to publicly-owned assets. “The premise is that, can we just have a national discussion about how to modernize our approach to them?”

The contentious plan has been met with pushback from critics including the Public Service Alliance of Canada, which represents about 245,000 workers across the country, including in airports.

“Private investors are not interested in running airports for the public good or for the benefit of travellers – they are interested in profit,” the union said in a recent statement.

“At a time when Canada needs to be the strongest it can be, handing critical public infrastructure to private corporations is not in the public’s best interest.”

The federal budget released in November stated that the government would “consider options for the privatization of airports.”

But the issue only began to attract widespread attention with last month’s spring economic update, which said that the government is considering “alternative models of ownership” for airports.

Speaking to approximately 100 attendees at the Moncton event on Tuesday, the finance minister suggested that Ottawa may use funds from privatization to finance health care.

“If you free up capital, then we can redeploy it in other spheres, whether it’s in health care or other things that Canadians would want to support,” he said.

Champagne also said be believes that privatized airports in foreign countries offer services that are “equal or better, depending on which place you’re looking at.”

He referenced airports in the United Kingdom and Australia, although passengers reportedly saw fees rise massively following the privatization of major Australian airports in the late 1990s and early 2000s.

The talk was moderated by Kim Wilson, CEO of the Chamber of Commerce for Greater Moncton, and Courtney Burns, president and CEO of the Greater Moncton International Airport Authority.

Asked about privatization, Burns provided a brief statement saying that “it is still very early in this process.” Airport authorities will “work with the federal government to examine and explore what this opportunity might entail,” she said.

“At this stage, we expect initial discussions to take place with the country’s four major hubs, but as a member of the Canadian Airports Council, we will be following this matter very closely.”

The Greater Moncton International Airport Authority has operated YQM since 1997. The authority operates under a long-term ground lease with the Canadian government.

It’s among 21 airport authorities in Canada responsible for managing, operating, and investing in those airports, in accordance with lease agreements with the federal government.

Airport authorities are private, not-for-profit corporations that set their own fees and meet their own costs via charges to airlines, travellers, and commercial revenues.

David Gordon Koch is a journalist with the NB Media Co-op. This reporting has been made possible in part by the Government of Canada, via the Local Journalism Initiative.