Good morning. Yesterday an F-16 fighter jet lifted off from Luke Air Force base and tore through the skies above the Arizona desert at up to 1,100 km/h. That jet was owned by a Montreal-based company most Canadians have never heard of, Top Aces Inc. More on the company and its role in Canada’s military export ambitions are in focus today, plus more updates from the Middle East:
Up first
In the news
Resources: Canadian Natural pauses its $8.25-billion oil-sands expansion, citing uncertainty over government policies as well as calling for the end of carbon pricing
Trade: After months of stalled negotiations, Dominic LeBlanc, the federal minister responsible for Canada-U.S. trade, is heading to Washington for talks
Procurement: Ottawa says it still plans to select a single bidder to replace Canada’s aging fleet of submarines
A crude oil tanker in El Segundo, Calif., on Wednesday.Damian Dovarganes/The Associated Press
Middle East updates
The Middle East war shows the world still runs on oil
Despite efforts to decarbonize the global economy, when oil supply is seriously disrupted, financial and economic turmoil is never far behind. In 1973, fossil fuels accounted for about 87 per cent of total global energy supply. That number today: 81 per cent. Yesterday, stocks ended sharply lower as oil spiked to above US$80 a barrel. Follow here for the latest news updates today.
- The war with Iran is pushing the price of critical fertilizers higher, just as farmers across North America begin the spring planting season and are in need of crop nutrients.
- U.S. President Donald Trump’s maritime security vow for the Strait of Hormuz is implausible after his Venezuelan turnabout, writes Rita Trichur
Pilot William "Billy" Mitchell.Emile Desroches-L/The Globe and Mail
In focus
Canada’s Top Guns
Hi, I’m Jason Kirby, a reporter here at The Globe, and author of the cover story in the latest issue of Report on Business magazine on Top Aces, one of Canada’s quietest yet most remarkable export success stories.
What’s Top Aces?
Launched 25 years ago by a trio of former Canadian fighter pilots, Top Aces has provided adversary and other types of air training to armed forces in Canada, the U.S., across Europe and Australia.
For many Allied militaries, especially in Europe, the Russia-Ukraine war was a wake-up call, as was Trump’s pressure campaign on NATO allies to increase their defence spending. Earlier this year, Top Aces signed a $680-million, 10-year contract with the German military. A number of other European contracts are on the horizon.
In its role, the company provides pilots and aircraft from its fleet of 70-plus active jets for training missions. Often that entails playing the bad guys in mock attacks on naval vessels or in dog fights with other jets – think Viper and Jester training Tom Cruise in the original Top Gun movie.
The jet from Luke Air Force base I mentioned above is a case in point. You can track the flight path here using FlightAware, under the callsign ACES1 (though you won’t see any U.S. air force aircraft it may have been on the mission with).
How our story came together
Until two years ago, I was completely unaware Canada was home to a company at the cutting edge of live air combat training. I stumbled upon Top Aces one morning while reading a thread by a U.S. economist and aviation enthusiast, Patrick Chovanec, who was using Microsoft’s Flight Simulator software to retrace the 1981 Israeli bombing raid that obliterated Iraq’s Osirak nuclear reactor.
In one post, he mentioned offhand that a small company started by former Canadian fighter pilots had recently purchased a fleet of F-16 jets, making it the only private company to own such advanced fighter aircraft.
I was hooked, though it took more than a year of requests and on-again, off-again interview plans before CEO Paul Bouchard and his co-founder, group president Didier Toussaint, met with me during a frigid day in Saguenay, Que., where Top Aces has one of its three Canadian bases alongside Canadian Forces Base Bagotville.
This is me in one of the company’s A-4 Skyhawk jets, which like the rest of Top Aces’ fleet is a vintage aircraft it has upgraded with sensors and tech like infrared search and track systems, advanced radar and data links, all to replicate threats posed by enemy fighters.
The author, squeezed into the cockpit of an A-4 Skyhawk at one of Top Aces' hangers in Bagotville, Que.
Top Aces’ big moment
As anyone who hasn’t been living under a rock in recent years (let alone recent days) is aware, the world has gotten a lot more dangerous. In the defence contracting industry, that’s called a tailwind.
And while the Mark Carney government ramps up defence spending at home, it’s also pushing heavily to strengthen Canada’s military-industrial ties with Europe, putting Top Aces in a promising business position.
Here at home the company, which hires retired elite fighter pilots to operate its aircraft, has worked with the military since the early 2000s and most recently signed a $750-million contract in 2017 to train all three arms of the Forces.
But it is also an awkward time to be a defence contractor serving militaries in both the U.S. and Canada, with Trump’s repeated threats to Canadian sovereignty. Indeed, after my interview with Bouchard, Trump amplified his threats to seize Greenland, and The Globe reported that the Canadian Armed Forces has modelled a hypothetical U.S. invasion of Canada.
In a statement afterward, Top Aces said it continues “to see excellent collaboration” between the two countries’ militaries and wouldn’t comment on hypothetical scenarios.
The way Top Aces navigates those forces as it pursues its global ambitions will be fascinating to watch.
Charted
A business of risk
The Globe and Mail
Ontario’s addictions and mental-health helpline saw “substantial increases” in people seeking help with gambling problems after online gambling became legal, a new study has found – especially contacts from boys and men aged 15 to 24, which grew by more than 300 per cent.
Quoted
Helping Punch learn the rules of monkey society and being accepted as a member is our most important task.
— Kosuke Kano, a 24-year-old zookeeper
Punch the baby orphan macaque is outgrowing the orangutan plushie that comforted him through early rejection from his mother and other monkeys.
Up next
More files we’re following
Cribs: In Toronto and Vancouver, sellers join would-be buyers on the sidelines.
Cheese: Could squeaky curds be the next Bordeaux wine? A group representing Quebec’s dairy industry says it’s seeking special status for “Quebec poutine cheese.”
Morning update
Global markets turned lower as equities remained on track for their steepest weekly drop in a year with the conflict in the Middle East showed few signs of easing.
Wall Street futures were in the red, while TSX futures followed sentiment lower after major North American markets closed down yesterday.
Overseas, the pan-European STOXX 600 was down 0.94 per cent in morning trading. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.71 per cent, Germany’s DAX slid 0.88 per cent and France’s CAC 40 eased 0.97 per cent.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei closed 0.62 per cent higher, while Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 1.62 per cent.
The Canadian dollar traded at 73.22 U.S. cents.