Spencer Fernando INSIGHT INTO NEWS, MONEY, POLITICS, & CULTURE : Currently, the foreign ownership limit in Canadian airlines such as Air Canada and WestJet is 25%.

Business and Finance

0

Spencer Fernando

INSIGHT INTO NEWS, MONEY, POLITICS, & CULTURE

Trudeau Government Passes Bill Opening Canadian Airlines To More Foreign Ownership

MONEYSPENCERFERNANDO

MAY 23, 2018

Bill C-49 had faced significant opposition in the Senate.

The Trudeau government is expanding the percentage of Canadian airlines that foreign investors can own.

Currently, the foreign ownership limit in Canadian airlines such as Air Canada and WestJet is 25%.

That is being changed to 49%.

This is in keeping with the Trudeau government’s concerning trend of making it easier for foreign investors to buy up parts of Canadian companies, even as their carbon tax policies and expanded regulations have led to an investment exodus across the economy.

According to BNN Bloomberg, the government is also increasing the amount that an individual can own in Canadian National Railway. That limit is going from 15% to 25%:

“The only person near that limit is Bill Gates, who owns a combined stake in the railway of about 15.9 per cent between his investment company, Cascade Investment LLC, and his family’s charitable trust.”

The bill – which addressed both airlines and railways – had faced opposition in the senate, with Conservatives saying it didn’t do enough to protect shippers who faced a dispute with a railway.

The Conservatives had proposed tougher measures to help shippers including farms and mines, but the government-controlled senate rejected those changes.

In response, Conservative Senator David Tkachuk said “I say to shippers: take heart,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s Liberals will lose in next year’s election “and these measures will be reintroduced,” he pledged, referring to changes rejected by elected lawmakers.”

Spencer Fernando