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Not unrelated is Bombardier’s ability to adeptly assess the current aerospace market, given that it hasn’t had a firm CSeries order in a year and a half, that its long-hoped-for sale to United Airlines flopped when the U.S. carrier opted for Boeing’s Next Generation 737 instead, and that a mounting pilot shortage appears to be making the mid-market runs the CSeries caters to less feasible for airlines. Meanwhile the plane-maker had to shelve its Learjet 85 program last year after demand proved tepid.

The Toronto streetcars were another worrisome sign that Bombardier’s issues run well beyond its balance sheet. Underframes and sides made at the company’s plants in Mexico were not fitting at the correct angles when they arrived for assembly in Thunder Bay. Then there were problems with electrical connectors, again discovered only at the final assembly stage. The streetcars were hardly as complicated as inventing a brand new aircraft; they were, rather, adapted from an existing Bombardier model already in use in Europe. And yet, by the start of 2016, Bombardier had delivered to Toronto just 14 out of the 74 streetcars it had committed to have by then, and is now facing legal action from Toronto over the $1.25 billion deal.

Nothing has been proven in any court, but it’s certainly possible to picture a scenario where federal taxpayers are made to sink cash into Bombardier at the same time that Toronto taxpayers are trying to get it out. At least that’s one local government willing to stand up for accountability and fiscal sanity.