Ontario Premier Doug Ford is voicing his support for a proposal to seek private investors for four Canadian airports, noting that it “should have been done years ago.” Ford made the comment during an unrelated news conference on Wednesday, one day after Prime Minister Mark Carney unveiled his plans during a keynote address in Toronto. In addition to Toronto’s Pearson airport, the federal government is also opening airports in Montreal, Calgary, and Vancouver to private investment. “I think it’s fabulous. You know, I have to give credit where credit’s due. The PM’s on fire. He’s moving. He’s lowering taxes like we’ve done for years. He’s privatizing airports that should have been done years ago...” Ford said. Prime Minister Mark Carney said on Tuesday that the federal government “will retain ownership of the underlying land and assets” as it seeks private airport investors while at the same time unlocking their “true value by bringing in new capital and expertise to their operations and their growth.” For his part, Ford reporters that he would also like to see Toronto’s Billy Bishop Airport opened up to private investment. In July, a proposal to expand the airport with billions in private investments was blocked by the federal government. At the time, Ontario Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria accused the federal government of listening to a “small fringe group in Toronto” who were opposed to the airport expansion plans. “There is one airport that has to be private and that is Billy Bishop,” Ford said Wednesday. “It is shovel-ready. There is $5 to 7 billion of private investment not costing the taxpayers anything, creating thousands of job so I look forward to sitting down with him (Carney) when he gets back.” Federal Minister of Industry Mélanie Joly was also in attendance at Wednesday’s news conference and said that while Canada is opening up investment to the four airports with the “most opportunity for investment,” some of the proceeds could be redirected to smaller airports. “The financing model is always dependent on the fact that there is a very high level of traffic in the airport so that why we have concentrated on the four ones I have mentioned,” she said.
