Couillard defends harsh stance against Boeing

Premier Philippe Couillard found himself on Thursday defending calls he made exhorting Ottawa to take a harsh stance against Boeing in its trade dispute with Bombardier.

The premier’s comments in recent days targeting the American aircraft manufacturer have had ramifications all the way to Manitoba, where Premier Brian Pallister and Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman said Couillard’s reactions to the U.S. Department of Commerce proposing a hefty 219 per cent duty on jets manufactured by Bombardier were exaggerated. Included among the comments Couillard has made was a call on Ottawa to ban letting anything Boeing makes into Canada until the trade dispute is resolved.

Boeing has a manufacturing plant in Winnipeg that employs 1,400 people — the biggest aviation centre in western Canada and the third largest in Canada, according to Winnipeg’s mayor.

“My reaction, it was the minimum,” Couillard told reporters. “They should take care of their business, I will take care of Quebec’s.”

While addressing hundreds of Bombardier’s employees at a hangar in Mirabel — where CSeries jets (the aircraft at issue in the trade dispute) are assembled — repeated his call that from now on “not one bolt, not one part, not one plane” made by Boeing should be purchased by Canada until the matter is resolved.

The proposed imposition of the duty was taken as a slap in the face to the Quebec government, which has injected US$1 billion in the program to produce the commercial jets.

Pallister said that while he understands Couillard’s concerns, he also feels Quebec’s premier should keep a cooler head in order to avoid poisoning the trade dispute. For his part, the mayor of Winnipeg said he believes that Couillard’s comments oversimplify the situation and that Canada should leave its borders open to trade.

“I will not stop at all. I will continue,” Couillard said when asked about the possibility that Quebec’s stance could hurt relations with other provinces.

According to its 2016 annual report, Boeing generated $2 billion in revenue in Canada. In Quebec, companies like Héroux-Devtek and CAE do business with Boeing. Couillard said he doesn’t believe that his verbal attacks on Boeing will hurt those companies.

“Should I shut up? Should I let arrogance win? What is going on is totally unacceptable,” Couillard said.

“It is not an attack on one plane, but an attack on an industry.”