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In a perfect world, Bombardier Inc. would design things its customers need or want, manufacture those things efficiently, deliver them on schedule and to cost, and be paid for this good work with alacrity, allowing it to continue being awesome. This should, in theory, not be so hard; it is, in fact, how business is supposed to work.

But Bombardier doesn’t operate that way. It never has. Which is why, as one season turns to another and the planet spins on its axis, the Montreal-based aerospace giant is pressing its substantial, state-subsidized girth to the trough once again, buttons popping, hands outstretched for another bowl of nosh. It is the people’s duty, we are told, to fork over $1-billion of our collectively borrowed money (because Ottawa is, of course, running at a $30-billion deficit) for the furtherance of the company’s CSeries passenger jet.

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Quebec Premier Philippe Couillard, whose government has pledged $1 billion of Quebecers’ money but has not, just yet, handed over any of the proffered cash, can barely contain his impatience. What are the feds waiting for? Even Ontario Premier Kathleen Wynne, renowned for sharp-eyed thrift with every solitary taxpayer penny, is enthusiastic. State “investment” in the CSeries is a barreling streetcar that can’t be stopped.