Mounties To The Rescue!

Canadians will not sit idly by and watch Bombardier die. That's the word from Ottawa, where lawmakers are making ready a bail-out package for the transportation giant worth at least CAN $300 million.

"You cannot just look at a company that's in a crisis point and say, 'Well, we're going to let it die, and live with the ripple effects,' because those ripple effects can be profound," Industry Minister David Emerson told reporters Tuesday. "They can be irreversible, and I for one am not going to stand by and watch that happen to a very important sector of Canadian industry." He was quoted in the Globe and Mail.

The announcement from Ottawa came just one day after Bombardier sacked Paul Tellier, its president and CEO. He'll be replaced by three people in what's widely seen as the first move in a big shakeup.

The sentiment for a bail-out seemed pretty popular in Bombardier's home province of Quebec, where some 25,000 people work for the company. The government in Quebec has pledged CAN$750 million in loan guarantees, bringing the province's total outlay for Bombardier to $2.3 billion.

FMI: www.bombardier.com