Bombardier: the opposition blame Couillard, Anglade argues realism

Archival Photo Simon Clark
The opposition blames the government Couillard for the rout of Bombardier and their C Series, while Dominique Anglade argues realism to explain the sale to a foreign company.

Charles Lecavalier

Tuesday, 17 October 2017 12:33

UPDATE
Tuesday, 17 October 2017 12:39

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The opposition blames the government Couillard for the rout of Bombardier and their C Series, while Dominique Anglade argues realism to explain the sale to a foreign company.

“It’s been over a year that there has been no sales significant of the C Series. The risk for us is that, in the end, we will not be able to sell it at all. That there was no market”, has dropped the minister of the Economy Dominique Anglade during a short media scrum five minutes.

Bombardier announced on Monday that the European Airbus put a free hand on 50.1% of the C Series, in exchange for a promise of development of a range of aircraft and protection of the jobs of the Mirabel plant until 2041.

Eventually, Airbus will buy back the shares of Quebec and Bombardier, and will transfer the production destined for the american market in Mobile, Alabama.

“Give the house”

The leader of the Parti québécois, Jean-François Lisée blame directly Philippe Couillard, which has weakened the company by investing in the C Series rather than in the parent company. “How did we come to this pass. The fruit of seven billion dollars of investment has been given to a foreign competitor. We gave the house to save the furniture”, he denounced.

He believes that the extreme weakness of Bombardier has been caused by the ill-advised decision of Philippe Couillard as it has allowed Boeing to accuse him of protectionism. Same goes for the head caquiste François Legault. “It is a sad day for Quebec”, has it launched.

Mr. Lisée is concerned the loss of the intellectual property on this aircraft at the cutting edge of technology. Dominique Anglade has confirmed that Airbus put the hand on the technology of the C Series, the development of which was largely subsidized by the governments of quebec and canada. It will be able to integrate it with its other aircraft families. “There will be the effect of osmosis”, she said

“You must live in the real world. The role of government was to arrive at the time needed to continue development. Now, it was clear that we took a third partner,” she added. She declined to say how many was today the investment of $ 1.3 billion from the government of Quebec. It will be “valued” in 2023. François Legault requires the auditor general to come and say how much are worth these actions.

For its part, Québec solidaire believes that it is unfortunately a “win” for Donald Trump, whose protectionism virulent attract jobs in a factory in Alabama.