Canada Won’t Do Business with Boeing until It Drops Charge Against Bombardier: Trudeau

The Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said Monday that Canada would not do business with a company that is busy trying to sue them.

 Trudeau said that Boeing can forget about selling fighter jets to Canada as long as its trade complaint is ongoing against Bombardier. It makes no sense to buy from a company which will put tens of thousands of Canadian aerospace workers out of business, Trudeau said Monday during a press conference in Ottawa with British Prime Minister Theresa May.

Theresa May said that she will raise the issue of Boeing’s trade complaint against Bombardier with US president Donald Trump later this week when she meets him.

Boeing complained in April to the US Department of Commerce that Bombardier's C Series planes were unfairly subsidized by the Canadian and Quebec governments. Last year, Bombardier sold 75 109-seat CS100 planes to Delta Air Lines at a cut-rate cost, which led to Boeing's accusation of predatory pricing.

"We recognize the Canadian government might be upset with us. We don't intend to upset anybody, but we plainly have to do what we believe is right," Boeing International president Marc Allen was quoted by the news daily as saying.

Boeing, on Monday, even offered to spend $18 billion in Canadian aerospace industry over the next decade if the contract is awarded.

The Canadian government however, is looking at buying second-hand fighter jets from Australia instead of buying a new fleet of 18 Super Hornets from Boeing.

A Canadian delegation was in Australia last month to see if the second-hand F/A-18 fighters placed on the market could fit Ottawa’s needs for interim fleet.