BCBusiness

14 BCBUSINESS JUNE 2019 B C S TAT S, D E S T I N AT I O N B R I T I S H C O L U M B I A , G O 2 H R , I N D I G E N O U S T O U R I S M B C , C H E A P H O T E L S .O R G, T O U R I S M VA N C O U V E R , But all the moves the 36- year company veteran has made pale in comparison to the Dash-8 purchase. "We're taking on 1,000-plus employ- ees there," says Curtis of the team at Bombardier's Downs- view manufacturing site in Toronto. "In the span of about 18 months, we'll go from a US$300-million company to a US$1.5-billion company"—one that stretches across three provinces and four time zones. Despite Bombardier's desire to oˆoad the one remaining de Havilland plane it had in production—the Dash-8 (Series 400), branded the Bombardier Q400—it still took years to com- plete the deal. "The complexity of taking the out-of-production [Dash-8 planes] and leaving the in-production [Q400] was too complex for Bombardier. So we sat on the sidelines, waiting," Curtis says. "I just kept talking to them and saying, 'If you're ever in a position to sell the whole program, we would be very interested.'" When Bombardier –nished its deal to sell a majority stake in its C—Series project to Airbus in July 2018, negotiations for the Dash-8 program took o›. Viking sent a team of 12 to Mon- treal to close the deal last fall— senior managers, including Curtis, plus legal and –nance. ("We were living in a board- room in Montreal eating pizza for a couple of months," Curtis recalls.) The Q400—whose big- gest customer is Air Canada Jazz, with 85 planes—will im- mediately boost Viking's top line: on average, Q400s sell for US$30 million, compared to just under US$7 million each for the Twin Otter. The Viking deal also rep- resents a dramatic shift in Canada's aerospace landscape, which has long pivoted be- tween Toronto and Montreal. According to former Quebec premier Jean Charest—whose report for the Aerospace In- dustries Association of Canada ( AIAC) on the future of the industry, entitled Vision 2025, was expected to be made public this spring—the shift is a positive development. "Viking is a fantastic story because it has a lot of momen- tum," says Charest, calling from a Montreal-bound car in early April, following discus- sions with public o£cials in Ottawa. "It's interesting in the national context because it speaks of the emergence of an OEM [original equipment man- ufacturer] in Western Canada. Bombardier has attracted an inordinate amount of attention—for some good rea- sons, and some not-as-good reasons. To see Viking emerge is good news." Although Charest is optimis- tic about the industry's future, he, like Curtis, worries about manufacturers' ability to –nd skilled workers. "I met with the national council on labour for this industry today," says Charest, "and they said that in the next –ve years, at the rate that we are training, we are going to –ll 20 percent of the positions that need to be –lled, given what we have in the pipe- line. That's a big problem." As for Curtis, he's taking the challenges ahead—including a labour shortage and a lease at Downsview that's set to run out in three years—in stride. "I get to ¦y a Beaver all the time: I load the airplane up with kids and do my local Victoria tours. I play drums in a rock-and-roll band, which is good for my soul. And I have a good family life. I'm having fun." As B.C. heads into another peak tourist season after a record- breaking 2018, we look at how sightseers are helping power the pro- vincial economy by Melissa Edwards Be Our Guest ( the informer ) G O F I G U R E READ THIS With the surface deposits of California's gold mines largely tapped out, in 1858 more than 25,000 fortune hunters headed north to the Fraser River Canyon, where local First Nations had discovered the precious ore. The resulting Fraser River War between newcomers and the Nlaka'pamux Nation compelled the British government to declare the territory the Colony of British Columbia. In 1860, prospectors discovered gold near Barkerville. Gold in British Columbia: Discovery to Confederation, by Victoria author Marie Elliott, offers new perspectives on both the Fraser River and Cariboo gold rushes and the establishment of colonial law and order during this social upheaval. Ronsdale Press 350 pages, paperback, $24.95 (cont'd. from p.13) 1985: The government privatizes DHC, selling it to Boeing for $155 million 1992: Bombardier pur- chases DHC from Boeing, in a complex $600-million deal that sees the Ontario gov- ernment taking a 49-per- cent stake in the company 2005: Bombardier sells the rights for all out-of- production aircraft (DHC-1 through DHC-7) to Viking Air 2018: Bombardier sells the Dash-8 program and de Havilland brand to Viking parent Longview $18.4 B Total revenue from B.C. tourism in 2017 6.1M Visitors from abroad to B.C. in 2018 Non-U.S. international tourists totalled 2.2 million ! 5.8% ASIA ! 6.6% EUROPE ! 7% AFRICA ! 56.8% SOUTH AMERICA In 2017, visitors to the province spent their money on… Accommodation + food: 36.3% Transportation: 31.9% Retail 25.7% Other: 6.1% $1.2 billion in provincial tax revenue ! 41.3% 10•YEAR GROWTH

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