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I see the lib-left jackal pack in the media and opposition have decided to make a big “to-do” out of Bombardier paying its managers what they’re worth. Columnists have fulminated, questions have been asked in Parliament, demonstrators have filled the streets over the company’s decision to set aside a small portion of the nearly $3.7 billion it has recently received in various forms of government assistance as a reward for the current occupants of its executive suite. And sure, on the surface, at first blush, it’s easy to say that, at a time when the company is laying off thousands of workers, raising the compensation for senior executives by an average of 50 per cent looks a little — what’s the word — unselfish? Giving? Generous to a fault?

Kudos to our prime minister, Justin Trudeau, then, for pointing out that this is simply the free market at work. “We respect the free market and the choices that companies will make,” he reminded reporters the other day, while touring an auto-parts factory in support of a federal subsidy program. This was, after all, Bombardier’s money, from the moment the responsible minister let go of the cheque, and if Bombardier should choose to award, say, $5 million of it to Pierre Beaudoin, executive chairman, that is none of our affair. That is a decision for the company’s board of directors, among them Pierre Beaudoin, Laurent Beaudoin (his father), André Bombardier (Laurent’s brother in law), Jean-Louis Fontaine (another brother in law), and Joanne Bissonnette (his niece).