Trump credits Canada’s privatized air-traffic control; wants U.S. to follow suit

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump credited Canada’s air-traffic control system as he proposed Monday to follow suit with a privatization process similar to the one implemented two decades ago by the northern neighbour.

Trump signed a letter outlining the proposal as he urged U.S. lawmakers to allow a privately run non-profit to handle air-traffic control; he said this would result in more efficiency and safety, lower costs and faster adoption of new technology.

His announcement came after a pair of fact-finding missions to Canada by American policy-makers, who recently huddled in Ottawa’s parliamentary restaurant with Canadian counterparts while a hockey playoff game flickered in the background.

“We have studied numerous countries,” Trump said during a White House event. “One in particular, they have a very, very good system. Ours is going to top it by a lot.

“Canada is an example. They modernized their air-traffic control through a non-government organization about 20 years ago and they have cut costs significantly. Adopted cutting-edge technology.”

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Monday’s statement came after weeks of discussion between his government and Canada’s.

It began with a winter trip to Washington by Transport Minister Marc Garneau — he was told by a Republican lawmaker, House transport committee chairman Bill Shuster, that 21-year-old Nav Canada was a model for the world.

They organized a pair of group visits to Ottawa. Within weeks, a delegation of nine U.S. lawmakers and the U.S. transportation secretary, Elaine Chao, visited Canada’s capital in March. Then at the end of May, 19 U.S. lawmakers made another trip.

The trips included stops at Nav Canada, working dinners and more sociable events. 

One Canadian staffer offered a walking tour of Parliament’s Centre Block and for the visit in late May the Pennsylvania lawmakers got to watch their Pittsburgh Penguins play the Ottawa Senators on TVs rolled into the otherwise-empty parliamentary dining room.

A U.S. government official said Monday that 50 countries have also split air-traffic duties and transport regulation into separate entities. The Trump administration says the move would make it easier to ditch old, land-based radar systems and adopt newer technologies like GPS, at a lower cost.

The Americans came to Ottawa with plenty of questions, Garneau said.

They wanted to hear about what went well, what didn’t and had queries about basic human-resources concerns like: “Did the benefits follow (federal employees to the private company)? That kind of thing,” Garneau said.

“Those are all aspects that are important when you’re trying to make a big change like that. … Learning more about how Nav Can came about. How did the process of separating it from Transport Canada take place? How was the transition? Was it smooth? What were some of the challenges? And how is it working out today?

“I basically … welcomed any opportunity for us to help.”

Alexander Panetta, The Canadian Press