At a speech at CANSEC in Ottawa on 31 May, MND Harjit Sajjan called for Boeing to withdraw its trade complaint against Bombardier. He also noted that the Canadian government was willing to cancel the purchase of the Super Hornet jets from Boeing if this dispute continued because Canada required “a trusted industry partner.” The purchase of the interim fleet has been controversial since it was announced. This trade dispute may offer the Liberals a way to get out of a purchase that seems a bit ill-considered, or it may be a genuine ratcheting up of a dispute between Boeing and Bombardier. This is hopefully not a sign of trade relations with the United States in the future. See Murray Brewster, CBC News, “Harjit Sajjan blasts Boeing over trade spat with Bombardier in defence industry speech: ‘Our government is disappointed in the action of one of our leading industry partners,’” at http://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/sajjan-boeing-bombardier-cansec-1.4139748. And as the dispute deepens, Boeing cancels its update on the deal. See Levon Sevunts, “Boeing cancels fighter jet announcement amid spat with Ottawa over Bombardier,” http://www.rcinet.ca/en/2017/06/01/boeing-cancels-fighter-jet-announcement-amid-spat-with-ottawa-over-bombardier/
