Couillard hails sound investment
CAROLINE PLANTE
Premier Philippe Couillard says news Bombardier will sell 45 of its CS300 aircraft to Air Canada is proof the government made a good investment, despite the fact the company is cutting 7,000 jobs worldwide, including 2,400 in Quebec.
“We invested in the sector of Bombardier that is growing. The CSeries is the most innovative part of the company, at least in the aeronautical part, and this is what’s growing now. And this order from Air Canada is only the start. I think we’re going to see a big chain reaction from other companies ordering the CSeries,” Couillard said Wednesday, on his way into a Liberal caucus meeting.
“It would have been a deep mistake to do what other people were advising us to do, invest in the mother company, and not where we can have an influence and where progress and development of airplanes is.”
In October, Quebec announced it was coming to Bombardier’s rescue with a US$1-billion CSeries investment.
The plane, which will seat up to 160 and is the biggest passenger jet Bombardier has ever produced, is two years behind schedule and considerably over budget.
Air Canada signed a letter of intent to purchase 45 CS300 aircraft with options for an additional 30 planes. A firm order would be worth about $3.8 billion, Bombardier said.
The Montreal-based company, which has 64,000 employees globally, said it will nevertheless cut 3,200 positions in its transportation department. Its aerostructures and engineering services unit will eliminate 2,500 jobs, the product development engineering and aerospace division will cut 800 positions, and the business aircraft segment will eliminate 500 jobs.
Bombardier said the job losses will be partly offset by hiring in other areas, such as its CSeries aircraft program.
“I want to reiterate that there’s no way, no way, that the federal government should not invest in Bombardier, in the CSeries. If the auto industry has been supported by taxpayer money, which is fine, then the aeronautical industry in Montreal needs also to be supported,” said Couillard.
The Quebec government has been urging Ottawa to match its billion-dollar investment in the CSeries. Canada’s minister of innovation, science and economic development, Navdeep Bains, said Wednesday the government is continuing discussions with Bombardier and will evaluate its request for federal assistance.
Meanwhile at the National Assembly, the Parti Québécois opposition tabled a motion asking that the Quebec government do everything in its power to convince Ottawa to pitch in. “And that the federal government recognize the strategic importance of the aeronautical industry for Montreal and the province of Quebec, just like it recognizes the importance of the auto industry for Ontario,” the motion read.
“Will the premier pick up the receiver and call the Prime Minister of Canada to convince him to invest in Bombardier,” asked PQ Leader Pierre Karl Péladeau.
The motion passed unanimously in the house, but not before Couillard pointed out he found it “particularly poetic” that the sovereignist PQ was the driving force behind it.
Moreover, both the PQ and Coalition Avenir Québec demanded Wednesday that the Liberal government renegotiate the deal with Bombardier to better protect jobs.
“We have no guarantees regarding jobs ... we’re not even guaranteed we’ll be able to keep the head office in Quebec,” CAQ Leader François Legault said.