Aerospace firms push back against Bombardier, tout upsides of a Boeing military deal

MONTREAL — Canadian aerospace companies are pushing back against the idea that a Bombardier Inc. contract win to replace aging military patrol planes would be best for the sector, saying that a deal between Ottawa and front-runner Boeing Co. could be at least as lucrative.

Bombardier has been demanding the federal government allow for open competition on the successor to the Royal Canadian Air Force’s half-century-old CP-140 Aurora aircraft.

The Montreal-based business jet maker argues that its surveillance planes will, once they start rolling off the line early next decade, offer a cheaper and more high-tech product that will be manufactured in Canada.

So far the government has not said whether it will go with a sole-source contract or an open bid, but its procurement department has stated that Boeing’s off-the-shelf P-8A Poseidon is the only reconnaissance aircraft currently available that meets the military’s needs.