A Leger poll finds 43 per cent of Canadians support private operators running Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver airports, while 27 per cent are unsure.
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A new Leger poll suggests Canadians are divided on the federal government’s proposal to put private operators in charge of the country’s largest airports, including Vancouver International Airport. According to the survey, 43 per cent of respondents favour using private operators for the Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver airports, while 31 per cent oppose the plan.
The poll also indicates a sizable group is uncertain. Twenty-seven per cent of respondents said they either do not know or are unsure about the proposal, reflecting a lack of consensus even among people who have not taken a clear position.
The survey results point to regional differences in views. Respondents in Quebec were identified as the most likely to support the idea, while those in Saskatchewan and Manitoba were most likely to oppose it. Leger conducted the poll online from Sept. 19 to Sept. 21 with 1,533 Canadians, and the poll could not be assigned a margin of error because of the online methodology.
Prime Minister Mark Carney raised the idea of courting private investors to take over operations of the four biggest airports during an investment summit in Toronto last week. The proposal, as outlined in the polling context, would shift airport operations for Toronto, Montreal, Calgary and Vancouver away from the current model and toward private-sector operators.
For Vancouver residents, the poll’s inclusion of the city’s airport makes the measure directly relevant to how major transportation infrastructure could be managed. The presence of both opposition and uncertainty in the results suggests that public support may depend on how the proposal is explained and what safeguards and outcomes the government would tie to any private operator arrangement.
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