Liberals could privatize some airports

If the Harper government had tried to privatize Canadian airports there would be a huge outcry from the Liberals and no doubt the New Democratic Party (NDP) as well, but now it seems the Liberals are seriously considering doing so.

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As the Metro news puts it:

 The federal government is looking at whether Canada’s major airports should be sold off to private investors as a way to raise tens of billions of dollars in new cash to fund other infrastructure projects.

Transport Canada bureaucrats are reviewing the ownership structure of Canadian airports, now operated by not-for-profit airport authorities, to assess the possibilities of transferring them to for-profit enterprises — and collect a windfall in the process.This move would give the Liberals cash for financing new infrastructure projects, which no doubt they could also sell off at an attractive price to allow investors to profit from public investments. This could ensure as well that investors will see the Liberals as a private-sector friendly party and generate more donations perhaps at the expense of the unpopular Conservatives.

Airport operators are rather nervous about the plan, fearing that the Liberals are rushing in to generate cash without weighing the potential impacts on travelers from making airports generate profits. Craig Richmond CEO of Vancouver Airport Authority said: “If you went to this model, my experience tells me in five years you would not recognize Canadian airports. You would see cutbacks on maintenance, cleaning, you would see them become much more crowded because (of) the pressures on the management to deliver that return.”Mark Laroche, the CEO of the Ottawa International Airport Authority said the change would likely give rise to higher fees and travelers would be required to pay more even as airlines are also jacking up fees to help their bottom line.

The Liberals could fund public infrastructure by selling off non-profit infrastructure such as airports. The new buzzword does not talk of anything so crass and old-fashioned as privatization it is the much more euphemistic asset recycling, as if the process must be environmentally friendly and something to be adopted by Elizabeth May leader of the Green Party. Asset recycling is said to give the private sector a stake in existing infrastructure assets, such as ports, or highways, to raise cash to be used for other investments. In other words it is a way of ensuring that existing assets can be used for private profit. An external review submitted to the Liberals last December suggested that airports would be a good starting place of an asset recycling program.

The report is by David Emerson, whose career path shows the symbiotic relationship of the Liberals and Conservatives: Emerson is a former Member of Parliament for the riding of Vancouver Kingsway. He was first elected as a Liberal and served as Minister of Industry under Prime Minister Paul Martin. After controversially crossing the floor to join Stephen Harper's Conservatives, he served as Minister of International Trade and Minister for the Pacific Gateway and the Vancouver-Whistler Olympics, followed by Minister of Foreign Affairs.

The Emerson report notes that the airport authority has worked so far. Airports are efficiently run and the authorities have invested more than $19 billion in "badly needed" infrastructure. It sounds as if things are working out well as they are. However Emerson claims the not-for-profit model is "antiquated" and puts their cost competitiveness at risk. Nothing about serving the public who use the airlines or ensuring that they have good service at reasonable prices. What is antiquated are services provided to the public without making a profit. Of course this must all be glossed over with high-sounding phraseology. The asset recycling is to be accompanied by legislation to "enshrine the economic development mandate of airports and to protect commercial and national interests" Nothing about the interest of air travelers or employees at airports. But the asset recycling miracle goes on in that it would “restore Canada to its place as a world leader in the governance of airports and in the use of competition and market forces to determine optimum investment and service levels and costs.” One can see with such a worthy theorist as Emerson, that he is welcome in both Liberal and Conservative quarters.

However, as Mark Laroche notes the system will work only by raising fees, investing less in capital or finding efficiencies. Or to put it more bluntly it will work only if the private investors can make a profit. Craig Richmond the Vancouver airport CEO noted that the value of his airport on the open market was about $6 billion and that any investors who buy it will want to get that money back. He said it can only come from the customers' wallets.

Transport Minister Marc Garneau is undertaking a review to hear feedback on the Emerson report's recommendations. No mention is made of public hearings. Apparently the government wants a review of options by bureaucrats by August. Why not hold public hearings? This is too serious a matter for that since it involves finding further means to turn public non-profit services into a source of private profit.

Pearson International Airport in Toronto with 41 million passengers a year would be a prize plum for the private sector. Airport operators claim that the high cost of air travel results from policies that are forcing passengers to pay the entire costs of air travel with no subsidy from general government revenues. This is of course in line with a market model and will ensure that the less well off will be able to fly only infrequently.

Among the private investors interested in the asset recycling process is the Ontario Teacher's Pension Plan (OTPP)

The OTPP is already invested in UK airports. It owns 100 percent of Bristol airport and almost half of Birmingham airport. It also has interests in Brussels airport and Copenhagen airport in Denmark. In order to improve profit, emissions may be increased, weight restrictions on aircraft removed, and noise levels increase. Also airports could encroach on more adjacent land.

Of course there are many supporters of asset recycling such as Michael Fenn, a former Ontario deputy minister and now a management consultant who specializes in the public sector who crows: "Asset recycling is a way to attract private-sector investment into activities that were formerly, exclusively, in the public realm. It’s something that we should pay a lot of attention to and I’m really pleased to see the federal government is looking seriously at it.”Apparently to specialize in the public sector is to find ways to turn the sector into a source for private profit. Coincidentally, Fenn happens to be a board member of Ontario Municipal Employees Retirement System (OMERS) which invests in public infrastructure around the world.

Asset recycling is trending internationally with Australia at the forefront of a plan for the federal government to offer Australian states incentives for asset recycling programs. The idea of public infrastructure as designed to provide services to the public at a reasonable cost is just too antiquated in the brave new world of asset recycling. In the appended video the Australian's Green Party view on the recycling is outlined.

Emerson: Burning poppy crops not the solution to Afghanistan's poppy crisis.

Burning poppy crops not the solution to Afghanistan's poppy crisis: Emerson

For once I must agree with Emerson. The U.S. likes to tear up or use herbicide to eradicate opium poppies claiming with some justification that sale of opium helps to finance the Taliban.
However, it also helps finance the Karzai government and the warlords that are part of the supposedly democratic government that we are supposed to be protecting.
Some even on the left have the idealistic view that we can help promote a good clean drug free Afghanistan. Right we can help the Yanks yank out all those horrible poppies. Well at least the Conservatives aren't idiotic enough to buy into that vision. This policy of course would be imposed upon the Afghans against their will. That seems not to matter somehow. It is all for their own good.
What such a policy will do will be to recruit more to the Taliban cause and probably even an understanding between the government and the insurgents that they will do everything possible to stop the process. By the way there is no poppy crisis in Afghanistan. The crisis is in the minds of foreigners. Opium poppies for Afghans are a huge cash cow. Destroying the poppy crops would bring a real crisis.
Note the not very subtle criticism of Karzai in this article and note that the U.S. is becoming impatient with him. The real problem with Karzai is that he is not a good enough puppet. He even complains of U.S. bombing that kills civilians. The U.S. is already grooming the next Afghan president Zalmay Khalilzad a faithful servant of the Bush administration.

By Murray Brewster, The Canadian Press

OTTAWA - Burning poppy crops in southern Afghanistan is not the way to stem the tide of opium and heroin coming out of the war-ravaged region, Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson said Sunday.

Speaking on CTV's "Question Period," Emerson said the solution might be to step up interdiction efforts at the processing and shipment levels as illegal drugs make their way out of the country.

"We all agree with the fundamental need to deal with this problem and I know Canada is prepared to step up and be part of a solution," Emerson said.

"Does it necessarily mean going out burning crops - or whatever the latest technique is - I'm not sure about that."

Canada is facing increasing pressure from the United States to support more determined poppy eradication efforts, specifically chemical spraying from the air.

Behind the scenes the Americans have urged Afghan President Hamid Karzai for the last two years to accept chemical spraying as a way to reverse the bumper crops of opium-producing poppies.

Taliban militants use profits from the illegal drug to buy weapons and explosives. A recent United Nations report estimated insurgents reap as much as $100 million in profits from trade in illegal narcotics and exports from Afghanistan account almost 90 per cent of the world's heroin.

Emerson says NATO is trying to win over the support of ordinary Afghans, including farmers, and burning the crops of people who aren't able to grow anything else won't make very many friends.

But a senior U.S. State Department official disagreed.

Thomas Schweich, the American co-ordinator for Afghan counternarcotics and justice reform who has been given an ambassador's title, says the notion that destitute farmers would be hurt by more strident eradication efforts is wrong.

"This myth of the poor farmer has been used as an excuse to avoid eradication," he said.

A few years ago the idea might have had some credibility, but the drug trade evolved, Schweich told CTV.

"If you look at the data, it is not the poor farmers in Afghanistan who are growing the poppy," he said.

"The poor farmers have taken advantage of the (alternative crop) programs we've offered and turned away from poppy. The poorest parts of Afghanistan do not cultivate poppy, but the rich parts of Kandahar, the Helmand Valley, a fertile part of Afghanistan; that's where all of the opium is being cultivated."

Karzai has argued that destroying large numbers of poppy fields would drive poor farmers to the arms of the Taliban.

Schweich said wealthy landowners and even corrupt government officials are taking advantage of the poppy trade.

His comments, which were also laid out in a recent New York Times opinion piece, reflect a growing impatience in the U.S. for the Afghan government to take a hard line on corruption.

At a recent international donors conference in Paris, Karzai pledged - at Canada's insistence - to tackle the problem.

But Schweich has his doubts, accusing Karzai of tacitly supporting the drug lords of southern Afghanistan for fear alienating his political power base.

Emerson dismissed the argument, saying Karzai is the elected president and the Canadian government supports him.

One of the people most often cited in U.S. and British claims of corruption is the president's half brother, Ahmed Wali Karzai, who is head of the provincial council in Kandahar.

A U.S. report leaked to the media last year accused him of "facilitating" the smuggling of narcotics.

Schweich was careful Sunday not repeat the claim, saying Wali Karzai "has not been charged or indicted."

But he said Canadians, who've seen 88 soldiers die since the beginning of the Afghan mission, should be "hopping mad" about the corruption that's undermining the rebuilding of Afghanistan.

Copyright © 2008 Canadian Press

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MacKay confirms 200 new troops for Afghanistan.

Nice touch that MacKay ties these further commitments to the Manley report thus linking the Liberals with the Conservatives and the Afghan mission. While our national infrastructure of bridges, roads, etc. crumbles we spend our money on adventures in tandem with the U.S. imperialists in overthrowing existing regimes and trying to build regimes more friendly to U.S. imperialism.

MacKay confirms 200 new troops for Afghanistan
Updated Mon. Jul. 28 2008 11:46 AM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
An increase to Canada's troop commitment in Afghanistan to 2,700 would represent the additional boots on the ground needed to run aerial drones and six Chinook helicopters, said Defence Minister Peter MacKay.
Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson was in Afghanistan on the weekend for his first visit since taking on the portfolio.
While there, he said Canada may boost its numbers in the south by 200 "as more equipment arrives," appearing to link the troops to a new squadron of helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) expected to be in place early next year.
MacKay, speaking to CTV's Canada AM on Monday, confirmed the link, saying the extra troops would be part of the increases needed to meet the recommendations of the Manley report on Afghanistan which was endorsed by Parliament.
"These additional troops would be required to keep the commitment that the parliamentary motion spoke of," MacKay said.
"And this will also importantly provide the ability to transport troops and equipment inside Afghanistan's Kandahar province, as well as giving that all important eye in the sky perspective for the UAVs."
John Manley's report on Afghanistan recommended that Canada extend its commitment to Afghanistan, but only if other NATO members boosted their troop commitments and provided more equipment.
MacKay noted that many of the 88 Canadian troops killed in Afghanistan were struck by improvised explosive devices while doing ground transportation of materials needed for development and reconstruction efforts.
The new equipment, he said, will save lives.
"UAVs give us that eye in the sky, the ability to see the Taliban when they're putting these type of devices in the road," MacKay said.
"And the transport helicopters, the heavy lift capability is critically important to the mission and its success."
MacKay also previewed a list of mission benchmarks the federal government plans to release in August to help Canadians measure the success of the mission.
In addition to military benchmarks, the list will include a major dam-building project, the construction of schools and efforts to eradicate polio with medical supplies and immunizations, MacKay said.
"So in addition to security and providing greater security on the ground we'll move ahead with this type of project. This is very much in keeping with Parliament's commitments. What we want to see as Canadians is a stable society that's able to do a lot more for itself," MacKay said.
Speaking in Kabul on Saturday, Emerson said the long-awaited benchmark list will be a valuable tool.
"We want numbers that tell us when we're doing things right. We want numbers and benchmarks that will tell us when we're doing things not so well," he said.

Emerson made head of foreign affairs

This is an ideal choice for this government. Emerson is a turncoat Liberal widely praised by analysts apparently. No doubt this is because he has shown himself to be unprincipled and also a sellout to the United States in the softwood lumber deal. This positions himself well to occupy a post where we will be a junior partner and provide manpower and cannon fodder for U.S. projects such as the war in Afghanistan. We already have a head of our forces who received a medal for service in Iraq!



CTV.ca News Staff Updated: Wed. Jun. 25 2008 3:35 PM ET
Prime Minister Stephen Harper handed the highest profile job in Wednesday's cabinet shuffle -- the head of foreign affairs -- to B.C. MP David Emerson. It was a move praised by analysts, but one that also stirred controversy.
Before being officially assigned the post, Emerson had been serving as the interim head of foreign affairs for the past few weeks. He took over the job for Maxime Bernier, who resigned last month following a series of political blunders.
Emerson had been serving double-duty, managing both foreign affairs and his post as the head of International Trade, which Prime Minister Stephen Harper has now handed to Senator Michael Fortier, the former public works minister.
Emerson also served as the minister responsible for Canada's Olympic and Paralympic Games. Analysts have praised Emerson, 62, as one of only a handful of qualified Tories whom Harper could turn to when adjusting the cabinet.
He chairs several cabinet committees, including the special committee on Afghanistan and the foreign affairs and defence committee. Emerson is also widely credited for helping forge a new Canada-U.S. softwood lumber pact. The deal occurred after a five-year-negotiation deadlock under the previous Liberal government.
"He's been a very steady performer. He will bring adult supervision to the Department of Foreign Affairs," former Liberal deputy prime minister John Manley told CTV Newsnet shortly before Wednesday's shuffle.
Manley said Emerson should be able to help the government regain credibility on the world stage after a series of recent missteps by foreign affairs. Those included:
the misplacement of classified material
the leak of a confidential report about NAFTA positions held by U.S. Democratic presidential candidates
inappropriate public comments about an Afghan leader
However, while Emerson has been praised for his efficacy, he has also been the centre of controversy. Emerson had served as the industry minister after being appointed to the post by Liberal prime minister Paul Martin in 2004. But Emerson, who was handpicked by Martin to run as a Liberal, crossed the floor of the House and joined the Conservatives -- within days of winning the 2006 election for Vancouver Kingsway under the Liberal banner.
The move outraged many of the riding's voters, who said they would never have voted for Emerson had they known he was planning to switch parties. The Conservative candidate in the riding had come in a distant third behind Emerson and the NDP candidate.
Before his sudden and unexpected post-election party switch, Emerson declared that he wanted to be Harper's "worst nightmare."
Just days later, he embraced Harper. The move was politically shrewd for Emerson, who jumped back into a cabinet post while his former Liberal colleagues languished on the opposition benches.
The Tories did not hold a byelection in Emerson's riding after he crossed the floor. Residual anger about Emerson's switch appears to have remained. A lone protester appeared on Parliament Hill on Wednesday, holding a sign which called Emerson a "hypocrite," a "coward," and a "fraud."
Before joining federal politics, Emerson served as B.C.'s deputy minister of finance in the 1980s. He began working with the provincial government shortly after receiving his doctorate in economics from Queen's University in Kingston, Ont.
In addition to serving in provincial politics, Emerson has also served as the head of the Western and Pacific Bank of Canada and B.C. Trade Development Corporation. The married father of five also oversaw the expansion of Vancouver International Airport during the 1990s and headed Canfor Corp., one of B.C. largest forestry companies.
"He brings some really serious qualifications to the job ... I think it will be a seamless transition," Conservative strategist Geoff Norquay told Newsnet.
© 2008 All Rights Reserved.

Minister's ''heart sank'' at news of Kandahar prison break.

David Emerson doesn''t seem to have read the NATO releases that say the breakout will have no impact on NATO operations. Even Emerson has more sense than to swallow that. The same thing is happening to NATO forces as happened for years to Soviet occupiers of Afghanistan. Of course no one in the media would ever talk of an occupation or the relationship of our mission to U.S. global aims. We now can see what 'supporting our troops' comes to--assuring that there will be more casualties and that we will further the global supremacy aims of the U.S. No doubt we will even hear great applause should Zalmay Khalilzad manage to be elected president replacing Karzai. It will be hailed as a great leap forward in the elimination of corruption ..blah blah..etc.



Minister's 'heart sank' at news of prison break TheStar.com - Canada - Minister's 'heart sank' at news of prison break
Taliban raid came after jail upgrades were urged
June 17, 2008 Allan WoodsOttawa Bureau
OTTAWA– Foreign Affairs Minister David Emerson said his heart sank upon hearing of the hundreds of insurgents, killers, rapists and thieves streaming out of Kandahar's main prison last Friday night.
The vital sources of intelligence on Taliban tactics were gone. The massive Canadian investments in the Afghan corrections system was squandered. The hopes of a robust local security force able to prevent the attack were badly hampered.
It is believed local officials were either complicit in the attack, powerless to prevent it or were killed in the massive explosion that ripped apart the prison walls.
"My heart sank because when you've got something like 1,000 prisoners, many of them Taliban, sort of wandering through the Kandahar area it's a real risk and a real threat and something that we have to take very seriously and we will," Emerson said.
"We've known all along there would be days where events did not go in our way, and this weekend we saw that."
The jailbreak indicates there appears to have been a breakdown in intelligence gathering aimed at anticipating and preventing such incidents, Emerson said.
That will require a "more comprehensive fix" that may include a concerted effort to tackle corruption.
"Obviously there are things that happened that we needed to know and we didn't know. We're going to have to find out why," he said.
In the Commons yesterday, the Conservative government was questioned about a February 2007 report from Canadian corrections officials deployed to Kandahar recommending urgent upgrades to Sarposa Prison.
"It has been recommended that our first priority be on securing the perimeter of the institution," said the report, released during a court challenge of the Canadian detainee policy.
Defence Minister Peter MacKay told the Commons "structural improvements" were made to the facility, but they dealt more with conditions inside the prison, not the outer walls.
In Afghanistan, the effects of the daring raid were apparently being felt, with reports of insurgents taking over key districts of Kandahar province, where Canadian troops had slowly but surely been asserting authority.
"What that should remind everybody ... of is how dangerous some of the prisoners in that prison indeed are," Prime Minister Stephen Harper told the Commons.