In the last five months, the government of Prime Minister Mark Carney has twice pitched the idea of privatizing Canada’s airports. While details remain vague, airport privatization and broader air travel policy reforms are long overdue, given poor service quality, expensive airfares and limited choice — problems largely due to a lack of competition.

For decades, Ottawa owned and operated all of Canada’s major airports. That changed in the 1990s when Jean Chrétien’s government leased the airports to not-for-profit airport authorities, while the government maintained ownership of the land. Since then, the federal government has collected rent from the airport authorities, which today amounts to $525 million annually.

OPINION: Feds should privatize airports to increase competition Back to video

So, why........

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