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Bombardier is back on track in Brazil

The trade relationship between Canada and Brazil has long been rocky, due largely to an ugly dispute over government subsidies to their respective airplane manufacturers—Bombardier and Embraer—in the late 1990s. During a visit to São Paulo last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper lamented the “barely $6 billion in business” between the countries in 2010, vowing to renew relations with the South American powerhouse.

Gustavo Vieira - Maclean's, 05/28/2012

The trade relationship between Canada and Brazil has long been rocky, due largely to an ugly dispute over government subsidies to their respective airplane manufacturers—Bombardier and Embraer—in the late 1990s. During a visit to São Paulo last year, Prime Minister Stephen Harper lamented the “barely $6 billion in business” between the countries in 2010, vowing to renew relations with the South American powerhouse.

Now, the company leading the rebuilding of that estranged relationship is none other than Bombardier. Last month, it opened a state-of-the-art monorail factory in São Paulo. As part of a $816-million contract for a new line of the city’s rapid transit system, Bombardier will build 53 of its INNOVIA Monorail 300 trains in the factory. Designed and tested in Kingston, Ont., the São Paulo monorail trains are a newer version of the ones running on Vancouver’s Canada Line.

At the opening of the plant, the president of Bombardier’s transportation arm, André Navarri, said the facility would be “the world centre of monorail production” for the firm. It may only be the start. Brazil plans to spend $25 billion on railroads and urban transportation in the next five years, including a high-speed train link between Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo. Bombardier, though, has so far said it will stay out of that project as local officials struggle with delays plaguing the bidding process.

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Photo courtesy of flickr user twicepix

About the Author

W.E. (Ted) Hewitt

Public Policy Scholar;
Professor of Sociology at the University of Western Ontario in London, Canada
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Brazil Institute

The Brazil Institute—the only country-specific policy institution focused on Brazil in Washington—works to foster understanding of Brazil’s complex reality and to support more consequential relations between Brazilian and US institutions in all sectors. The Brazil Institute plays this role by producing independent research and programs that bridge the gap between scholarship and policy, and by serving as a crossroads for leading policymakers, scholars and private sector representatives who are committed to addressing Brazil’s challenges and opportunities.  Read more

Canada Institute

The mission of the Wilson Center's Canada Institute is to raise the level of knowledge of Canada in the United States, particularly within the Washington, DC policy community.  Research projects, initiatives, podcasts, and publications cover contemporary Canada, US-Canadian relations, North American political economy, and Canada's global role as it intersects with US national interests.  Read more