Boeing downplays dispute with rival Bombardier, calls it ‘company-to-company issue’

OTTAWA – A senior Boeing official says the U.S. aerospace giant’s trade dispute with Montreal-based rival Bombardier is a “company-to-company issue.”

And Leanne Caret, the head of Boeing’s massive defence, security and space division, still hopes to sell Super Hornet fighter jets to Canada.

Caret made the comments in an interview with U.S.-based Defense News on the sidelines of the Paris Air Show this week, where her company was shunned by Canadian officials.

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Members of the Canadian government met F-35 manufacturer Lockheed Martin and other fighter jet makers in Paris on Monday and Tuesday, but refused to sit down with Boeing.

The Trudeau government had planned to buy 18 Super Hornets to temporarily fill what the Liberals say is a shortage of Canadian fighter jets.

But that was before the Liberals threatened to cancel the deal and started giving Boeing the cold shoulder for complaining to the U.S. Commerce Department about Bombardier selling its CSeries jets at a discount.