this isn't the first time that this debunked argument about competition reducing prices has shown up in canada.
canada has very expensive cell phone fees. this was blamed by the right on overregulation and not enough competition, so they tried to break up some large companies, and the prices actually went up. very few people want to admit it, but the reality is that canada is a very big country with a very small population scattered over a large distance and with challenging terrain in between. building anything here is hard, and expensive. canadians need to pay for the cost of living in the wilderness, on the edge of civilization, in an environment where maintaining a network is very challenging.
likewise, carney has wanted to reduce food prices through increasing competition. but the reality is that we have a short growing season and swaths of badlands (you can't grow a damned thing in the canadian shield), and we don't tend to eat the kind of food you could grow here anyways. we import most of our food. we're paying for the cost of oil two or three times through transportation, refrigeration and fertilizers. it has nothing to do with a lack of competition, although i'd welcome steps to grow more food locally, to cut down on two or all three of those costs inputs.
it's a great general solution if you have a specific ideology. you can trot out competition to solve problem after problem.
....except that it doesn't work.
like most cure-alls, it's a kind of snake oil and if you take it too seriously it can cause substantive harm.
as with the other examples, and i'll admit i haven't looked into this too closely, it is highly likely that the higher costs for air travel in canada have to do with canada's isolated geography full of distant communities and endless forests. there probably isn't a way to reduce costs; outsourcing hr has a very bad track record and will predictably lead to 2-3x the labour costs, we have enough data to say that with confidence.
it's the price you pay for living in the sticks.
canadians will tell you there's upsides to the landscape. it's up to us in the end to decide if the cost of living is worth it or not.