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Lazar doesn’t know if it will actually ever come to that. Quebec and the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec might step in and orchestrate a deal that sees the pension manager buy one of the divisions as a last resort. With that help, the company may even be able to ensure its business jet plant and headquarters stay in Quebec, saving hundreds of jobs.

Much of Bombardier’s current woes could’ve have been avoided, Healy said, if the family had agreed to sell some of their shares in 2018 when the stock reached a seven-year high of $5.41. The company could easily have raised more than $1 billion in equity, he said. When that didn’t happen, he knew the company was finished, and he sold his shares.

“They never seemed to get it,” Healy said. “When your stock is soaring, it’s not a pat on the back. The market isn’t congratulating you and saying, ‘Aren’t you the biggest smartass in the world.’ It’s fundamentally asking you to please take my money and do more of what you’re doing.”

Healy didn’t mince words when asked which Bombardier division he would pick to sell: “Well, they screwed up both, haven’t they?” Still, he suggested selling aviation because it’s the riskier business heading into the future.

Well, they screwed up both, haven't they? Ross Healy, chairman, Strategic Analysis Corp.

Deborah de Lange, Ryerson University professor of global management studies, is a bit more optimistic that the family can save the faltering company.

Bombardier’s central problem is that it has always always paid a heavy price for its mistakes, she said. If it fails to deliver trains or streetcars to its customers on time, it has to throw in dozens of additional vehicles or pay millions of dollars in service compensation. And when it sees its balance sheet constricting, the answer has always been to cut costs through layoffs or asset sales.