Prime Minister François Legault announced on Tuesday an investment of US$300 million (a little over CA$410 million) for the production of Airbus A220 aircraft.
Mr. Legault visited the Airbus plant in Mirabel in the afternoon, accompanied by the Minister of Economy, Innovation and Energy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, and Benoît Schultz, President and CEO of Airbus Canada, as well as the members of parliament for Mirabel and the Plains.
The company will invest US$900 million (over CA$1.2 million) in the program, with the aim of expanding its operations.
With this investment, the government is maintaining its 25% share of Airbus Canada shares and is postponing its exit from its investments to 2035, rather than 2030. Airbus has committed to maximizing the economic benefits of its activities in Quebec by then.
“Today, we are consolidating the presence of Airbus, an aeronautics giant, in a sector that creates enormous wealth for our nation,” said Premier Legault in a press release. The multinational currently has 4,000 employees in Quebec, including 3,500 in the production of the A220.
Minister Fitzgibbon recalled that “the A220 is the fruit of Quebec genius, and we can be proud of having developed one of the best aircraft in the world.”
The A220 is the name now given to the CSeries aircraft, which the European company acquired in a commercial agreement with Bombardier in 2018.
The Quebec government has already invested nearly $1.68 billion in the CSeries and the A220 since 2016.