Your views are myopic.cloak wrote: ↑Wed Oct 23, 2019 5:48 pmWow, "didn't happen"?! Never thought I'd hear that so soon! That is exactly how they change history!!
At any rate, don't know what grade you were in at the time, but been there, done that, got the t-shirt!
In fact, for the illumination of the younger ones, I'll tell a story called: Air Canada.
Air Canada used to be a crown corporation up until 1988, and for those who don't know what that means, it means it got to do what it wanted while the taxpayers paid for it. In 1988 Air Canada became a "private" corporation and between then and 2001, in the space of 13 years, Air Canada managed to accrue as many BILLIONS (read BILLIONS) in debt, in other words 20% of Argentina's national debt that was on the brink of bankruptcy then. That astronomical debt was accumulated in the process of undercutting competition out of business which was(is) basically Air Canada's corporate strategy. It was a surprise, and in much gratitude to bail-outs of another Liberal regime that was in power then that Air Canada survived. Please don't insult our intelligence by some revisionist re-written history!! If you want to change history, change something more distant, not something many would remember.
Your forgetting deregulation and government policy with respect to airline failures during deregulation as a major factor. Not a single airline entity that existed prior to deregulation, exists today with the exception of those that went through bankruptcy. Regulation led to fat, uncompetitive companies who were lunch meat for lean upstarts. Government policy of not allowing airlines to fail post deregulation did more harm than good.
To give younger viewers a little history.
Prior to deregulation Canada had. Air Canada, CP Air, Pacific Western, Wardair, Nord Air, Eastern Provincial Airways. With the exception of PWA, all fat, debt ridden companies, not competing with each other in any meaningful way.
Post deregulation.
The corporations believed the way to profitability was through consolidation. It failed and left a debt ridden train wreck. CP bought EPA and Nordair. The combined debt load and the competing deregulated environment made them unprofitable. PWA stepped in to pick up CP Air in a highly leveraged purchase and renamed themselves Canadian.
Wardair was then on the ropes.
The Canadian government with a policy of not letting airlines fail stepped in to force CP to buy Wardair. ( Threatened to allow Wardair into Asia).
Then the early 80’ recession hit. This left Canadian and its high debt load through multiple acquisitions in a precarious position for a little more than a decade before failure.
Air Canada had not been acquiring companies through this period but neither were they making money.
Then Westjet. The first successful post deregulation Airline in Canada. Both Canadian and Air Canada began to bleed hard. Particularly Canadian as WJ started in their back yard.
Then Canadian was on the brink. The Canadian government once again stepped into the situation and forced AC to take on Canadian and its debt rather than let it fail. Once again the government used routes, and access to them, as a way to make AC comply.
So by 2001 AC had on its books the combined debt of the ENTIRE group of pre deregulation airlines. AC was so fat it could barely waddle as a result.
Numerous complaints to the competition bureau then ensued about AC. You see the competition rules of the day stated you could not sell a product below cost. Since AC was so fat even matching the competitions pricing drew competition bureau complaints.
In response AC started Tango ( Read desperation here) to compete on price matching with C3000 and WJ. The competition bureau never got to rule on if this was a legal workaround of the competition rules because the government modernized the rules first. It is entirely possible that the the competition bureau, using the rules of the day, may have found AC was in contravention of competition rules by using Tango to price match with WJ and C3000. It might even be probable. The fact is the law was modernized to enhance competition. Not allowing price matching would stifle it.
Then 911.
Canada 3000 went bankrupt.
The government finally stepped away from their policy of not letting airlines fail and finally brought in real competition rules.
Then SARS which was Toronto centred, WJ was still out west, was the final blow for AC.
AC went bankrupt and was washed of the entire pre deregulation debt load of the ENTIRE pre deregulation industry.
Unfortunately AC was taken into bankruptcy by a hedgefund that wasn’t really interested in fixing AC systemic problems. They just wanted to drop debt and part it off in pieces.
It was not until 2009, 21 years post deregulation, that AC finally had leadership that would take them from a pre deregulation fat organization to a company that could compete in a post deregulation environment.
