Premier Doug Ford backs Carney’s plan for private investors at airports

TORONTO – Ontario Premier Doug Ford is fully on board with the prime minister’s plan to see private investors take over operations at Canada’s four largest airports, including Toronto Pearson, he said Wednesday.

Ford said not only is the idea “fabulous,” but it should be expanded to include Toronto’s island airport.

“I have to give credit where credit’s due,” he said at an unrelated press conference. 

“The PM’s on fire. He’s moving. He’s lowering taxes, like we’ve done for years. He’s privatizing airports that should have been done years ago, but there’s one airport that has to be privatized, and that’s Billy Bishop.”

The premier has been pushing for the Billy Bishop Toronto City Airport to be expanded so it can accommodate jets, continuing his push even after the federal government rejected the plan.

Prime Minister Mark Carney, however, has left the door slightly ajar, saying last month that while the results of a consultation that garnered mostly negative responses were clear, he was not nixing the expansion forever.

The island airport is an ideal project for privatization, as it is “shovel ready” and would greatly benefit the economy, Ford said Wednesday.

“Times have changed now,” he said. 

“It’s not about the government funding everything. We have billions and billions, hundreds of billions, actually over a trillion of pension fund money. … We’re encouraging all of Ontario and Canadian pension funds to invest, invest into our airports, invest into our nuclear, and invest into the (electricity) distribution.”

Carney announced Tuesday that under his airport pitch, the federal government would retain ownership of the land and assets.

He said the government is not looking to privatize airports but rather to change their operational structure, and it would reinvest money that’s raised into regional airports.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2026.