Transportation and Works
Natural ResourcesApril 7, 2009
Government Puts Waterbomber Purchase on Hold
After lengthy negotiations, the Honourable Trevor Taylor, Minister of
Transportation and Works, announced today that the Provincial Government
could not achieve acceptable terms with Bombardier for the purchase of
new waterbombers.
Bombardier was not prepared to provide adequate security to protect
deposits and advance payments to be made by the province. Considering
the current global economic situation, the Provincial Government
insisted on having all payments fully secured. A total of $33 million
was budgeted in 2008-09 for down payments on new waterbombers which
would cost over $100 million in total.
"We are still quite interested in the purchase of new waterbombers if
the price is right," said Minister Taylor. "But the current purchase
terms are not acceptable and we didn�t feel our investment was
adequately protected against potential losses in the existing economic
climate. In the meantime, we feel quite confident in our ability to
provide forest fire suppression coverage with our existing fleet for the
next few years."
The Honourable Kathy Dunderdale, Minister of Natural Resources, said
while negotiations with Bombardier have ended, the process of
waterbomber replacement has not.
"We will continue to explore options for replacement of the fleet on
a timely and cost-efficient basis," said Minister Dunderdale.
Headquartered in Gander, the Air Services Division of the Department
of Transportation and Works owns and operates six CL 215 waterbombers.
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