Introduction A star-studded evening included Stephen Blank, Karl Moore, Peter Perkins, Guy Stanley and Kimon Valaskakis, all committed to avoiding references to "The Revenge of the Sith" despite the uncanny resemblance of the movie to real-life happenings in Ottawa. Dodging the intergalactic Star Wars proved to be relatively easy, given the array of topics and assembled expertise. For Bombardier getting the engine for the new C-series is a critical issue, especially as it needs to be a substantially new one. There is a market opportunity, in the niche between Embraer and smaller redesigned Boeing and Airbus aircraft, but Bombardier has promised 15-20% better price/performance than the competitors, which they will not be able to deliver without a new engine. Aeroplan https://www.aeroplan.com/en/home/index.jspWednesday, the U.S. imposed quotas to limit growth of Chinese imports to 7.5% a year. [Editor's Note: On Thursday (05/19), the U.S. Treasury called for Beijing to allow a revaluing upwards of the Yuan, and on Friday, China announced it will drastically raise export tariffs on 74 categories of textile products beginning June, in an apparent effort to meet U.S. and European demands to stem the flood of cheap Chinese goods, however this announcement was greeted by calls by the EU for limits on textile imports from China] In the opinion of some, the fact that China is expanding the private sector trading of foreign exchange – the yen, the euro, the dollar and other currencies - indicates that they are setting the stage for revaluation with a basket of currencies. They will not increase interest rates as despite the 9.5% growth rate, inflation is coming down (1.8% last week). ... the Chinese are very aware of their role as an emerging leader in Asia; there is a good trade balance between China and their Asian trading partners. While China will move forward, it may well be that gradualism will be the guiding factor. On the other hand, there is reason to believe that the U.S. can and will force the issue, thus causing China to act with more speed than might be expected [Editor's note: Paul Krugman notes in his May 20 column in the New York Times that "Over the last few years China, for its own reasons, has acted as an enabler both of U.S. fiscal irresponsibility and of a return to Nasdaq-style speculative mania, this time in the housing market. Now the U.S. government is finally admitting that there's a problem - but it's asserting that the problem is China's, not ours. "And there's no sign that anyone in the administration has faced up to an unpleasant reality: the U.S. economy has become dependent on low-interest loans from China and other foreign governments, and it's likely to have major problems when those loans are no longer forthcoming. … a rise in the yuan and other Asian currencies will eventually make U.S. manufacturing ... more competitive.] Will France say 'Non' to the EU Constitution? The French vote on 29 May could well be a 'Non'; however it appears unlikely this will have any impact on the dollar as markets have already factored in rejection by the French voters. Latest polls show 55% against, in a coalition of extreme right and extreme left interests. It is not surprising that voters are confused, as it is an opaque document, of which the average person would understand very little.... Many voters on the left believe that somehow the Constitution favors Big Business interests. Others believe (erroneously) that if the Constitution is adopted, Turkey's entry into the EU is guaranteed and consequently all prized social values will go down the tubes. To a certain extent, rejection of the Constitution is also linked to the threat of globalization, and a desire to put the clock back. Whatever the outcome (and some around the table predict a favourable vote), the EU will continue to grow and mature. And while the impact of a No would be important, the EU would simply revert to the Nice Treaty http://www.unizar.es/euroconstitucion/Treaties/Treaty_Nice.htm