Absolutely.
I often quote the saying, “no wind is favourable to a ship without a destination”. With that in mind, I wonder what direction we want to take with airports. When we build an airport, a highway or a major infrastructure project, what's the purpose behind it?
For several decades now, at least since the 1980s, the prevailing view has been that airports are a way to generate lease revenue and takeoff and landing fees, thereby filling the government's coffers.
I have no problem with that; it's legitimate. The question is whether these facilities are fulfilling their mission or not. Once again, as for the idea of selling them, I'm not opposed to privatization. There are private airports that operate very well, such as Paris—Charles‑de‑Gaulle Airport in Paris. These airports are private entities, but the government keeps a very close eye on them to ensure that the airport fulfills its original mission.
As far as we're concerned, we haven't defined a mission for our airports. Whether they're private or public doesn't matter—we don't know what's expected of them, aside from making money. That's all well and good, but what else?
So if we move forward—and this issue isn't clear—if they're privatized, it will be people who are just making money for their own benefit. If they remain private, those people will line their own pockets. However, deep down, we're forgetting the airport's primary mission: to serve as a driver of economic development.