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France is on fire again, with flames also blazing a path of death and destruction in Spain and Greece. But exhausted Europeans aren’t looking skyward in awe of Canadian Canadair water bombers, a triumph of Canadian aviation. The most modern ones are capable of taking in about 6,000 litres of water in 12 seconds, and dumping it on a fire before going back for another load. …According to Le Monde, no more than eight of the 12 have been operational at any one time since July 21. …Bombardier suspended production of the planes in 2015, when the company decided there wasn’t enough demand. …So we have technology the world wants, but we can’t produce it at speed and at scale. No country can afford to squander an advantage in any domain, especially not in this increasingly urgent space. With some corporate leadership and some federal assistance, though, this can be fixed. [to access the full story a Globe and Mail subscription is required]