The Globe and Mail reports in its Tuesday edition that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has raised the stakes in Ottawa's
dispute with Boeing, vowing to freeze out the U.S.-based aerospace
giant from any federal contract
as long as it pursues its trade dispute against Bombardier.
The Globe's Daniel Leblanc writes that the PM's threat was
aimed at a $6.4-billion deal for 18 new Super Hornet
fighter jets from Boeing. Still, his words could
eventually apply to a much bigger prize, namely Ottawa's plans to buy 88 new fighter jets to replace Canada's CF-18 fleet in
the next decade at a cost of nearly
$20-billion. "We won't do business with a
company that is busy trying to sue us and put our aerospace workers out of business," Mr. Trudeau
said on Monday, before repeating his comments in
French to maximize their impact across the country. This was the Liberal government's
strongest rhetoric to date in the dispute that started with
Boeing's complaint to the U.S. Department of Commerce against the Bombardier C Series
aircraft in April. According to Boeing, Bombardier is dumping
its newly designed aircraft in the American market at "predatory" prices because of illegal federal
and provincial subsidies.
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