Airport Industry Agrees with Auditor General

Wednesday, February 16, 2005 -

Airport Industry Agrees with Auditor General

Ottawa, February 16, 2005 – In response to the Auditor General’s 2005 Status report, Canadian Airports Council (CAC) president and CEO, Jim Facette, said, “the airport industry agrees with the Auditor General, when the National Airports Rent Policy is completed it must be presented and clearly  explained to all stakeholders what direction this government intends to go.”

The airports industry has always maintained that the current rent policy is inconsistent and not based on any acceptable formula.  Over the past two years the CAC has provided Transport Canada with input, as recent as January 2005, on a passenger based formula that is equitable and fair to Canada’s eight largest airports and relieves smaller airports of the rent burden. Mr. Facette said, “Transport Canada is well aware that the airport industry in Canada believes that only airports with annual passenger volumes of 2 million or more should pay rent.  We also recommended that, if it was necessary to collect rent, the federal government collect no more than $150 million per year.”

The CAC is also pleased to read that the Auditor General took notice of the extensive governance transparency at airports.   The Auditor General congratulated Transport Canada lease monitoring processes and highlighted no situations of non-compliance were found by Transport Canada.  As illustrated in the report, airport authorities are complying with lease provisions on public interest and governance – they hold annual meetings, produce annual reports, and prepare performance reviews.

The report also noted many good practices of airport authorities in areas of ISO certification for environmental management; providing training of Transport Canada employees in areas of governance and capital improvements; noise monitoring; and financial data disclosure in Annual Reports.

About the Canadian Airports Council
 
Formed in 1992, the Canadian Airports Council represents Canada’s non-federal airports for industry policy and regulatory matters, facilitating industry education and exchange, and promoting the industry in Canada and globally. CAC members account for 100% of all international passenger and cargo air transportation in Canada and 95% of domestic passenger traffic. With 43 members, operating more than 120 airports, the CAC includes all major international airports and a number of regional airports across Canada.