How Crass! How Liberal! -- A Pre-Election Goodie for Bombardier -- Designed to Buy Votes? -- Guess Where?

Is this the price of keeping JC quiescent -- perhaps of not mentioning that PM knew a little more than he has acknowledged? The price of votes in one very special province? Or am I too cynical -- even wrong?

Bombardier wins $270M CF-18 deal -- Train military pilots Mar. 20, 04, CP

MONTREAL - Bombardier Inc. has won a $270-million contract to train CF-18 pilots for the Canadian military and scrapped plans to sell its military aviation training business. [. . . . ]

Just mention loss of jobs, Bombardier and Quebec in the same sentence and guess what? Money appears -- for the Liberals' favourite charity--compliments of Canadian taxpayers'. NJC

News of the defence contract leaked out last week when CAE Inc. of Toronto, the world's leading aircraft simulator maker, complained its rival bid had not been fairly treated by the Department of National Defence.

For those of you who have seen Quebec favoured for DND contracts--as well as for DND officers--for what seems like a millennium, I'll bet you are not shocked. Of course, the rest of us are? NJC

Bombardier Aerospace is teaming up with L-3 Communications of the United States for the contract, as the American partner uses similar technology for F-18 simulators it provides to the U.S. military. Under the eight-year contract, Bombardier will build training centres at air bases in Cold Lake, Alta., and Bagotville, Que., and they will be equipped with sophisticated simulators.

Would I be amiss in pointing out that no contract can be awarded in TROC without a contract awarded to that provincial sinkhole of Liberal patronage, Slush Funds and more? NJC

Bombardier already does pilot training for Canadian military and NATO pilots in Moose Jaw, Sask., Cold Lake and Southport, Man.

Let us not forget the Demarais/ Power Corp./ Jean Chretien connection. Liberals take care of their own. NJC