In 1918—just as World War I was coming to an end—along came a virus, a previously unknown killer that would claim more lives than the war—and in a shorter period of time. In less than two years, the Spanish influenza killed 21 million people worldwide, including 50,000 Canadians. The war, which lasted five years, killed at least 17 million people, including more than 66,000 Canadians. Sadly, many of the victims of the Spanish flu were the very soldiers who had survived long odds in the trenches, because the people at highest risk were aged 20 to 40. "This disease," notes the Canadian Encyclopedia, "demonstrated ...

The 50-seat Canadair Regional Jet assembly line at Dorval, Quebec. A willingness to take risks, as any modern business maverick will tell you, is one of the keys to corporate success. And Bombardier Inc., a Canadian corporation that builds everything from motorized recreational products to trains and planes, seems to be living proof of the maxim. For example, one of the corporation’s main units, Bombardier Aerospace—headquartered near Montreal International Airport—has design and production facilities in three countries. Its manufacturing facilities include Canadair and de Havilland in Canada, Learjet in the United ...