And who can forget the simmering conflict between the company and the Great White North Franchisee Association, a group representing more than half of Tim Hortons franchises. The good news is that, as of late, things seemed to have calmed down between the franchisee group and its parent company. Bombardier's really bad, no good year After several years that featured delivery delays, cost overruns and controversial government loans, things had finally started looking up for Bombardier. In January, the U.S. International Trade Commission voted that sales of the CSeries jet did not harm the Boeing Co., eliminating a 292 per cent tariff that threatened Bombardier's survival. (Its chief executive Alain Bellemare was literally popping bottles of champagne shortly without hours of that decision). Bombardier's deal to give Airbus full control of the CSeries program was finalized in August, breathing life and stability to a program that had been leaching capital for years.