Same old, same old
Getting benefits for Quebec is delaying the purchase of C-17 strategic airlifters. Even with a Conservative government...the more things stay the same.
The delivery of Canada's first military cargo aircraft faces delays while Boeing is embroiled in a backroom battle with Public Works Minister Michael Fortier over Quebec's share of economic benefits flowing from the $3.4-billion purchase.
The negotiations, which were scheduled to close last month, are running into overtime and jeopardizing the plan to deliver the first of four C-17 aircraft to the Canadian Forces in June.
To obtain the contract, U.S.-based Boeing Co. has to pledge to buy supplies and services worth the exact value of the purchase in Canada. This package of regional benefits can be spent directly to build or maintain the Boeing C-17s, or any other current and future Boeing aircraft.
With billions at stake, Boeing is facing political pressure to invest heavily in Quebec, where 55 per cent to 60 per cent of Canada's aerospace industry is located...
"Mr. Fortier wants the maximum for Quebec. He is the political minister responsible for the Montreal region," a federal official said...
The lobbying over regional benefits will not end with the C-17 negotiations. The government is planning to purchase $4.7-billion in Chinook helicopters from Boeing and $5-billion in Hercules C130J aircraft from Lockheed-Martin this year.
In these two cases as well, the companies will have to plow the exact amount of the sale in direct and indirect benefits into the Canadian economy...
posted by Mark, Ottawa at 8:11 a.m.
4 Comments:
fred, yep, every last one human being living within the borders of Quebec is like that.
Isn't everyone west of Toronto a redneck hick?
There are a couple of angles on this, as I see it.
First, if the Globemaster delivery gets hung up and delayed, those responsible should be shot at dawn and their bodies dumped in an unmarked grave. The bottom line shouldn't be economic spin-offs, it should be getting the damned equipment for the CF. The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.
Second, a story like this, infuriating as it is to folks like us who are interested in the welfare of CF members, does nothing to hurt the fortunes of Maxime Fortier. In fact, it probably helps him politicially: "See, I'm fighting tooth and nail for Quebecers!"
It's enough to curdle mother's milk.
I'm a Quebecer and I'm personally disgusted by Fortier mere presence in cabinet. Everything he does there after that is just fruit from a poisoned tree.
I am kind of entertained by the notion that a vendor of defense equipment is required to make the transaction revenue-neutral by shelling out the same amount of dollars into the economy of the buyer.
Somehow I don't think the local Mercedes dealership would be too anxious to sell me a car if I made it conditional that they also pay for my future kids' university and postgrad tuition.
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