By Tom Bradley

Around this time last year, I wrote about Bombardier and its struggles. The plane and train maker is in the news again after reporting more disappointing results. Bomber, as I came to know it, had a net loss in 2015 of over $5 billion (U.S.), and the company is laying off 7,000 workers over the next two years.

The question of the day is whether the Federal Government will follow Quebec’s lead and lend a helping hand to keep the company afloat. I’m not going to wade in on this highly political topic (I get in enough trouble at the dinner table as it is), other than to say that if we the taxpayers support Bombardier in some way, we put some conditions on it. The Federal government should:

• Require that the Beaudoin family dismantle the shareholder structure that allows them to control the company through multiple-vote shares. It’s obscene that a company that has benefited so much from government largesse – financing, debt guarantees, training grants, customer financing and tax breaks to name a few – is allowed to maintain this structure.
  
• Require that the jobs stay in Canada.
  
• And require that the company, if and when it makes a profit again, pays taxes in Canada.

With regard to the last point, corporate managements have an obligation to maximize their profits and allocate capital in a way that’s best for shareholders. But in the case of Bomber, a company that’s constantly drank from the public trough, setting up a complex corporate structure that allows it to pay little or no tax in Canada is appalling.

As I said in my previous piece, I want to see Bombardier not only survive, but thrive. But the company needs to be more respectful of one of its key backers, the Canadian taxpayer.

(Note: we don't own Bombardier's stock or bonds in any of our funds.)