Carney expected to discuss private money in Canada's airports in address to investment summit: source

Carney expected to discuss private money in Canada's airports in address to investment summit: source

Liberals first floated idea of privatizing airports in last year's budget

Prime Minister Mark Carney is expected to float the idea of opening up Canada's airports to private investments in an address to investors in Toronto this morning, a senior source has told Radio-Canada.

It's not clear to what extent the government would allow private money into Canada's airports, the source said. CBC News is not naming the source because they weren't authorized to speak publicly about the matter. CTV and the Globe and Mail first reported the news.

Members of the Liberal caucus met Monday night to discuss airport "modernization," a separate federal source told Radio-Canada. The source didn't specifically mention privatization.

The government has been signalling its interest in privatizing Canada's airports since November's budget. May's spring economic update said the government would introduce legislation to explore the possibility.

The federal government currently owns about two dozen large airports across the country, including main hubs like Toronto's Pearson International Airport, Vancouver International Airport, Trudeau International Airport in Montreal and Calgary International Airport.

The government leases the airports to non-profit airport authorities that are responsible for overseeing their operations. Those lease fees are worth $525 million per year, according to the Canadian Airports Council.

The Canada Investment Summit, taking place Monday and Tuesday in Toronto, is being hosted by Carney, who invited over 100 of the world's largest investors from around the world in the hopes of securing $1 trillion in investments in some 167 projects across the country over the next five years.

A number of the attendees are Canadian and international pension funds. Pension funds typically see airports as a safe investment and Canadian pension funds, like the Canada Pension Plan and Ontario Teachers' Pension Plan, have held shares in private airports overseas.

With files form Laurence Martin and Fannie Olivier