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TTC Chair Josh Colle tried a new tactic in the city’s epic streetcar battle with Bombardier on Wednesday, linking stunning delays on the 204-car order to the prospect of a federal bailout for Bombardier’s struggling aerospace arm. Federal money would be a “slap in the face” for Toronto, Colle suggested, absent concrete and compelling guarantees.

“I would certainly hope, if any of our federal cousins are listening, that a prerequisite of any discussion about helping out Bombardier would be that they have to straighten out the Toronto order,” said Colle.

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Bombardier’s Thunder Bay plant should have delivered 67 cars by the end of last year. There are 17 on the road today, and the company recently downgraded a more recent promise to deliver 54 vehicles in 2016 to just 30.

Incoming Bombardier Transportation Americas president Benoit Brossoit has pledged to provide the TTC with what CEO Andy Byford calls “additional measures that can be taken to improve” upon that figure. That might include moving error-plagued parts production from Mexico to Quebec, or adding a permanent third shift in Thunder Bay. In the meantime, neither Byford nor Colle professes any confidence in the company.