Who has ever made their way through a busy airport and thought, “Gee, what this place needs is a middleman looking to add a profit margin?” But that’s essentially what’s on the table.
With big spending promises to live up to, the federal Liberals are looking at putting Canada’s ports and airports up in a yard sale.
While we understand the need to find revenues, we’re highly skeptical of the potential to privatize these essential Canadian assets.
Ports, like the Port of Vancouver, already generate revenue for the federal coffers through rents from terminal tenants and fees extracted from shippers. And the taxes and fees collected by Canada’s airport authorities are already among the highest in the world.
With shareholders to please or a bottom line to burnish, privatizations are almost always followed by corner cutting, contracting out or budget cuts that impact service.
And the laudable goals that come with privatization like innovation and lower prices for consumers are dependent upon there being stiff competition. Instead, we’d get a series of monopolies – ones that operate with even less accountability to the public than what we’ve already got.
Rough as the relationship has been between some residents and the Port of Vancouver, it could be a boatload worse if the governance model is tweaked in favour of private investors.
The port’s mandate is to facilitate the trade on which Canada’s economy is based. There’s no guarantee a private owner would share that interest.
When it comes to our ports, both air and sea, we’d prefer to keep our own names on the baggage.
– Guest editorial from the North Shore News
