Quebec pension fund dismisses Boeing’s ‘unfair subsidy’ claim
NEW YORK: Quebec’s largest pension fund has dismissed as “absolute nonsense” claims by Boeing Co that its US$1.5 billion (RM6.44 billion) investment in Bombardier Inc’s rail business amounted to an unfair subsidy to the Canadian company.
Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec’s chief executive Michael Sabia said on Wednesday that the United States aerospace company, headquartered i n Chicago, was itself a recipient of state aid.
“I guess the guys at Boeing are so used to being subsidised by the defence department in the US that they can’t understand what a subsidy is anymore because they live off them,” he said.
“It is just outrageous that a company that’s subsidised by the US government as Boeing is presumes to take such an action,” said Sabia.
However, Boeing spokesman Dan Curran said; “Rulings by the World Trade Organisation prove that assertions about subsidies to Boeing are incorrect.
“Our petition to the International Trade Commission seeks to restore a level playing field in the US airplane market.
“This is the normal course of resolving such commercial trade disputes between two companies, and we will let that process play out.”
The Caisse has a dual mandate both to maximise returns for depositors and support economic growth in the Canadian province.
Sabia said the Caisse operated independently of the Quebec government and the decision to invest in Bombardier was a commercial one. Reuters