News broke last week that the federal government is considering privatizing its major airports to raise money for infrastructure projects. That would be good news for Canadians, and in more ways than one. Private airports, which are becoming commonplace around the world, tend to be less costly and more innovative, often looking like shopping malls. The federal government should follow international practice and sell its major airports.
Many Canadians know first-hand that air travel in Canada is expensive. According to the World Economic Forum, Canada has the ninth-highest ticket taxes and airport charges in the world. We rank between the tourism hotspots of Sri Lanka and Ghana.
As a report last week in the Toronto Star…
We don’t have to wait for ratification – parts of CETA can be implemented now - Globe and Mail Op-Ed
Doing trade deals these days isn’t easy.
Tuesday’s announcement by the European Commission that the Canada-European Union Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) requires the approval of the European Parliament as well as the 28 EU member states is frustrating. It means the agreement can’t be fast-tracked through the EU Parliament alone, as had been hoped by Ottawa.
Just to back up for a moment, the Canada-EU negotiations ended in September, 2014, with a lot of fanfare and a joint press conference by then-prime minister Stephen Harper and former EU Commission president Jose Manuel Barroso.
However, even though the negotiations are now long over, the final text of the agreement hasn’t actually been signed…
In Britain or Ottawa, things get hairy when central bankers get political - Financial Post Op-Ed
The question as to what central bank “independence” means has arisen once more and not just in Canada. Bank of England Governor Mark Carney stepped into the Brexit debate and was accused of political interference. In India, the head of the central bank has decided not to seek re-appointment, with political controversy surrounding his tenure. When Bank of Canada Governor Stephen Poloz recently made comments relating to the federal budget he sparked debate over the bank’s independence.
This is far from a new issue. As early as the 1940s, Graham Towers, then the Bank of Canada’s governor, was accused of pandering to the government by keeping interest rates low, and other governors have skated near political controversy from time to…
