Trudeau government will not pull $372.5 million given to Bombardier

The Liberal Minister for Industry Navdeep Bains said in a statement that “Our government has been steadfast in its support for the Canadian aerospace industry and its workers … we will continue to engage with all relevant parties to ensure that previous commitments are honoured.”

The Trudeau government gave an intrest-free loan of $372.5 million to Bombardier in 2017 to help with their production of the C-series aircraft. Soon after this, Bombardier cut 14,500 jobs, sold a majority of the C-series aircraft shares, and moved the production of the aircraft to Alabama.

Despite the huge redundancies, Bombardier executives saw it fit to grant themselves a 48 percent pay raise for six senior managers. These raises, however, were soon revoked after protests and condemnation.

Despite government support, Bombardier managed to lose $1.6 billion last year.

Speaking in the Senate, Conservative Senator Leo Housakos said that “The terms of the agreement were not fully disclosed to Parliament or the public … we still don’t know today if that $400 million was a grant or a loan, or when it will be repaid.”