Mesdames Messieurs, bonjour.
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. My name is Pierre Beaudoin, and I am the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Bombardier. I'd like to welcome you to Bombardier's 2023 Annual Shareholders Meeting. Bombardier continues to innovate and distinguish itself as a company focused on designing, manufacturing, and servicing the world's best business aircraft. In 2022, we celebrated 80 years, and 2022 was particularly crowned with success. We significantly expanded our global service center network, launched our Flagship Global 8000 aircraft, and began delivering Challenger 3500 aircraft. We launched Bombardier Defense to meet the increased demand for innovative and sustainable military aviation solutions worldwide. Our products continue to turn heads. At the same time, career opportunities at Bombardier have continued to attract interest.
Our workforce has grown by 2,000 people around the world, and Bombardier was recognized as a choice employer for diverse and exciting careers. In addition, we are proud of the way we have executed our product and service strategy, products and services and our financial performance. Bombardier has proactively reduced its debt, which has allowed us to regain confidence from the financial community. On behalf of our board of directors, we are pleased to have you as shareholders, and we thank you for your continued support. This on behalf of the board and the management team. We are not meeting here today in person, but we wanted to ensure that you attended our meeting and that you had an opportunity to speak with us.
I invite you all as registered shareholders and proxies to ask questions and vote on each resolution on the agenda as if you were present in person. Our meeting will be conducted primarily in French. Allow me to say a few words in English.
Ladies and gentlemen, good morning. My name is Pierre Beaudoin, and I am the Chair of Bombardier, of the Board of Directors. Welcome to Bombardier's 2023 Annual Meeting of Shareholders. While we are not meeting with participants in person today, our goal is to ensure that you can fully participate in the meeting and that we can exchange with you. I invite all registered shareholders and proxy holders to ask questions, vote on each agenda item as if you were present in person. While our meeting will be held mainly in French, a simultaneous translation is available on the live webcast, and you may ask questions in either French or English. At the bottom right-hand side of your screen, you can choose to listen to the meeting in English, French, or in the original stream. Maintenant, je vais donner quelques instructions.
Allow me to give you some instructions so that you can fully appreciate and participate in this meeting. This meeting is webcast, and the webcast will be posted on our website for a certain period of time after the meeting. I remind you that you must be connected to the internet at all times so that you don't miss anything and so that you can ask questions and vote at the appropriate time. Allow me to remind you that only registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders can ask questions and vote at this meeting. On the left screen of your webcast platform is designed to allow you to exercise your shareholder rights. In other words, you can ask questions and vote. Over the course of the meeting, I invite you to refer to the tabs at the top of this screen.
We have the Home tab, which will allow you to view information and instructions about the meeting, including when it comes to questions and voting. The Messages tab allows you to ask questions via the chat. The Votes tab, which will appear when the vote opens, will allow you to view the proposals and vote on each one of them. The Documents tab will allow you to look at and read documents pertaining to this meeting. There is a little bit of a delay in our webcast this morning, and so it's important that registered shareholders and duly appointed proxy holders submit their questions as soon as possible so that we can address them at the appropriate time during the meeting. If you wish to ask any questions, you may do so by clicking on the Messages tab on the webcast platform.
Please read the instructions under the Home tab before submitting your question. In particular, please indicate whether your question relates to a proposal that is part of the official meeting agenda or whether your question is more of a general nature. We will attempt to address questions that relate directly to a proposal on the agenda at the appropriate time during the meeting. More general questions will be held for the question and answer period following the adjournment of the meeting. For those shareholders who wish to do so, I invite you to submit your questions right now. As always, questions should be related to Bombardier's business or activities. We will not answer questions that first relate to information about Bombardier that is not in the public domain. We will not answer questions that are repetitive or have already been asked by other shareholders.
We won't ask questions that are derogatory or other to any individuals or otherwise offensive to third parties, that relate to personal grievances, are posed for the personal or business benefit of a shareholder, or are irregular or otherwise inappropriate. Our webcast platform provider will keep a complete record of all questions received. If, for whatever reason, due to time constraints, your question is not able to be addressed, we will endeavor to answer after the meeting. Questions and answers will be available on our website as soon as possible after the meeting and will remain available for one week after they have been posted. The voting procedure will be explained to you in just a moment or so by Mr. Torkia Lagacé, Secretary of the meeting.
Before we begin, I'd like to draw your attention to the notices and cautionary statements that you see on the screen. I'd like to remind you that over the course of this presentation and during the presentation made by our President and Chief Executive Officer, we may make projections or other forward-looking statements about future events or about future financial performance of the company. A number of assumptions have been made in the preparation of these forward-looking statements. We'd like to mention that actual events or results may differ materially from these forward-looking statements. For more details, shareholders are referred to the cautionary note regarding forward-looking statements in the financial report of the company for the year ending or ended December 31st, 2022. I make this statement myself and on behalf of each shareholder whose remarks today contain forward-looking statements.
Allow me now to begin by introducing the company executives who are with me here today. Éric Martel, President and Chief Executive Officer. Bart Demosky, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. Annie Torkia Lagacé, Senior Vice President, Legal Affairs, and Corporate Secretary. I will act as the president of this meeting, and Ms. Torkia Lagacé will be the secretary. As last year, we will be adding a moderator whose task will be to inform the assembly, the meeting, of the questions we receive online. Mr. Mark Masluch, Senior Director, Communications and Public Affairs, will act as the moderator for all requests, questions, and comments as submitted via the broadcast platform of this assembly. The subjects on the agenda of this meeting are the following. First of all, to receive our consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31st, 2022, and the auditor's report thereon.
Secondly, to appoint Ernst & Young as the company's independent auditors until the next annual meeting of shareholders and to authorize the directors to set their remuneration. Three, elect each of the nominees to serve as a director on our board of directors until the next annual meeting of shareholders. Four, adopt the non-binding advisory resolution on our approach to executive compensation. Fifth, vote on the shareholder proposal we received from a shareholder. Sixth, to transact and to look at any other business as may properly come before the meeting. I give the floor to the secretary for more information on this meeting.
Mr. Chairman, we have obtained an affidavit from our transfer agent, Computershare, with regards to the mailing of the notice of meeting, which states that on April 19th, 2023, the notice of meeting, together with the proxy circular, forms of proxy, and notice of availability of meetings materials were distributed to all our shareholders of record as of March 6th, 2023. This affidavit is available for review by any shareholder and will be attached to the minutes of this meeting. A copy of the notice of meeting, the proxy forms, and the circular are also available on Bombardier's website and on the SEDAR website. I'd like to mention that a simple majority of the votes cast by the holders of Class A shares will be required to approve the financial statements.
We have multiple voting and limited voting shares will constitute approval of each of the proposals on the agenda. We have asked certain employees and shareholders of Bombardier to present and second the formal proposals. The Chairman will recognize these individuals at the time of the moment.
Thank you very much, Ms. Secretary. If there's no objection, Mr. Steve Guilbert and Ms. Claire Girard of Computershare will act as scrutineers for this meeting.
Mr. Chairman, according to the report from the scrutineers that I got at the beginning of the meeting, we have confirmed that we have the required quorum to hold this meeting.
Thank you, Ms. Secretary. I would like you to place the scrutineer's report on file with this meeting. I therefore declare this annual meeting duly and validly called and constituted.
I would like to provide a copy of the scrutineer's report on the quorum, and I ask that it be attached to the minutes for this meeting. As with every year, we encourage you to vote as of now. If you have already voted, you have nothing to do. This said, any registered shareholder and any duly appointed proxy holder who has not yet voted or who wishes to change his or her vote may do so directly on the live webcast platform. I now declare the ballot open. You will see the tab Voting on the webcast platform, and you will see all the proposals for this meeting. I'd like to remind you that non-registered shareholders who have not appointed themselves as proxy holders will not be able to exercise their voting rights during this meeting. You may, however, listen to the meeting as a guest.
I'd like now to invite the secretary to review the voting procedure.
Those of you who are registered shareholders or proxies entitled to vote at this meeting may access the proposals and vote. Voting on all proposals will be available at any time during the formal portion of this meeting. You may therefore vote immediately and as proposals are processed, you can vote or you can wait to vote on all proposals at the close of the ballot. Votes can be changed at any time before the voting period is closed. All votes represented by registered shareholders or proxy holders entitled to vote at the meeting will be counted and added to those received by proxy, and the preliminary results of the vote will be presented on the screen at the end of the formal part of the meeting.
A report will be available on SEDAR, and a report on the final outcome of the elections of directors will be issued by press release. If you have already voted by proxy before the meeting, you don't have to vote again today because your vote is already taken into consideration in the number of votes received to date. However, if you wish to change your vote and you are the person designated as the proxy in the submitted proxy, your virtual vote will automatically cancel any previously completed and submitted proxy votes.
The first item on our agenda is the presentation of the corporation's annual consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31st, 2022, and the auditor's report. The financial statements and the auditor's report have been filed on SEDAR and on Bombardier's website. Therefore, I will not read them.
Ms. Secretary, please attach to the minutes of this meeting a copy of these documents. Mr. Masluch, do we have any questions pertaining to this proposal?
Mr. Chair, I confirm that we have not received any questions on this item.
The next item on our agenda is the appointment of Ernst & Young as the company's independent auditors until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until a successor is appointed, and to authorize the board of directors to fix the auditor's compensation. May I have a motion to appoint Ernst & Young as the company's independent auditors until the next annual meeting of shareholders or until a successor is appointed, and to authorize the board of directors to set the auditor's compensation?
Mr. Chair, my name is Julie Turcot. I am a shareholder of Bombardier.
I move that Ernst & Young be appointed as independent auditors of Bombardier until the next annual meeting or until a successor is appointed, and that the board of directors of Bombardier be authorized to set their compensation.
Thank you. Do we have someone to second this proposal?
Mr. Chair, my name is Marie-Geneviève Crépeau. I'm a shareholder of Bombardier, and I support this proposal.
Mr. Masluch, have we received any questions with regards to this proposal?
Mr. Chair, I confirm that we have not received any questions regarding this item.
Shareholders may now vote on this proposal. Shareholders and proxy holders, please vote on the appointment of Ernst & Young as Bombardier's independent auditor for a term expiring at the close of the next annual meeting of shareholders of the corporation, and on the authorization of Bombardier's board of directors to set their compensation.
Please, as a reminder, if you have already sent in your vote, you do not have to vote if you so choose. It's not necessary to vote via the webcast. Your vote is already taken into account. Let's now move to the election of directors of Bombardier. The board of directors of Bombardier, on the recommendation of the Corporate Governance and Nominating Committee, proposes the election of 13 directors for the current year. We propose one new director, Ms. Rose Damen. Sorry, a brief biography and other information on each director is included in section two of the 2023 management proxy circular. Before I ask for a proposal on this matter, allow me, on behalf of the board of directors, to acknowledge and salute August Henningsen, who will not be seeking re-election this year.
After many years as a member of our board, August is stepping down as a director.
Soul and dedication to making Bombardier a world-class company over the past years. We wish you all the best.
May I now have a proposal for the election of these 13 candidates as described in the proxy circular?
Mr. Chair, my name is Julie Turcot. I'm a shareholder of Bombardier. I move that each of the following 13 people be elected as a director of Bombardier until the next annual meeting of shareholders of the corporation, or until his or her successor is appointed. Pierre Beaudoin, Joanne Bissonnette, Charles Bombardier, Rose Damen, Diane Fontaine, Ji-Xun Fu, Diane Giard, Anthony Graham, Melinda Rogers-Hixon, Éric Martel, Douglas Oberhelman, Eric Sprunk, Anthony Tyler.
Does anyone wish to support this proposal?
Mr. Chair, my name is Marie-Geneviève Crépeau. I'm a shareholder of Bombardier, and I support this proposal.
The motion was duly made and seconded. Mr. Masluch, do we have any questions regarding this proposal?
Mr. Chair, I confirm that we have not received any questions pertaining to this proposal.
Thank you. Shareholders are asked to vote on the election of each of the 13 proposed candidates for the position of director. I would like to ask the secretary of the assembly to remind us of the voting procedure. Yes, thank you. You may now vote on the election of each of the 13 candidates. The names of the 13 candidates are listed on the webcast platform. If you've already submitted your vote via the proxy form and you do not wish to change your vote, there's no need to vote via the webcast platform, as your vote has already been taken into consideration. The agenda now calls for shareholders or their proxies to vote on the adoption of the non-binding resolution on Bombardier's approach to executive compensation.
You can read the text of this resolution in section two of the 2023 Management Proxy Circular. As explained in the Circular, Bombardier's approach aims at maximizing the corporation's overall performance by relying on the individual performance of its senior executives. Its objective is to recruit, retain, and motivate executives to improve corporate performance and enhance shareholder value, thereby supporting Bombardier's commitment when it comes to pay for performance. May I have a proposal for the adoption of this resolution, please?
Mr. Chairman, my name is Julie Turcot. I'm a shareholder of Bombardier. I move the adoption of the non-binding resolution on Bombardier's approach to executive compensation, as set out in section two of the 2023 Management Proxy Circular.
Does any shareholder or proxy holder wish to support this proposal?
Mr. Chair, my name is Marie-Geneviève Crépeau. I'm a shareholder of Bombardier. I support this proposal.
This proposal was duly made and seconded. Mr. Masluch, do we have any questions with regards to this proposal?
Mr. Chair, I confirm that we have not received any questions pertaining to this proposal.
Thank you. I'd like to remind you that this is an advisory resolution. That the results of the vote will not be binding on the Bombardier board of directors. This said, the members of the human resources and Compensation Committee will take this into consideration when in the future they review the principles, policies, and programs or arrangements relating to executive compensation. I'd now like to invite shareholders to vote on this proposal if that has not yet been done. I'd like to ask the secretary of the meeting to remind us of the voting procedure.
Dear registered shareholders and proxy holders, I invite you to vote on the non-binding resolution on Bombardier's on Bombardier's approach to executive compensation. Please remember that if you have already submitted your vote and you do not want to change your vote, you do not need to do so, and therefore you do not need to vote on the webcast platform because your vote has already been taken into consideration. This year, Bombardier received two shareholder proposals submitted by the Mouvement d'éducation et de défense des actionnaires, the MÉDAC. The full text of the two shareholder proposals is printed in Schedule B of the circular, together with the responses from the board of directors.
Following discussions with the MÉDAC, it was agreed that only proposal number one, the disclosure of language proficiency of directors, be put to the vote, and that proposal two, women's attendance breakdown of executive positions held, would not be put to a vote. The board of directors of Bombardier recommends that you reject proposal number one, submitted for a vote for the reasons stated in Appendix B of the circular. I would like to invite the representative of the MÉDAC to briefly present the MÉDAC proposal. Mr. Gagnon. Hello. Is he there?
Yes, I'm here. Can you hear me clearly?
Yes, we can hear you very well. Thank you very much, Mr. Gagnon, for being here. Can you please present your proposal?
Yes. Hello, Mr. Chair. As you just said, my name is Willy Gagnon. I work on behalf of the MÉDAC. I've working.
I've been working with the MÉDAC for several years now. We usually speak to you at this time of the year. We've talked about the proposal requiring disclosure of information around women at the top ranks of the company. A disclosure has been put into place, and it is in line with our proposal. We have then agreed with you that we will not vote on this proposal. Furthermore, we are quite disappointed with regards to the second proposal, the one around languages spoken by directors. We have asked that these languages be disclosed around their competencies in the circular. At the vote, we would have hoped that Bombardier get to understand, because with all the other companies that we have submitted this proposal to, they have all agreed, including all the banks.
They accepted to tell us about the languages spoken by directors, and so we don't understand why Bombardier would refuse to disclose this. It's a simple gesture that would cost nothing when it comes to giving us answers. In your answer, Bombardier said that they have big service centers in Germany. We can think about people speaking German. We also have people from France and Italy, so French and Italian and Arabic and in China, and so it could be Mandarin. We've wanted to know if directors speak any of those languages. Without an answer, we refer continuously to the French Language Charter, and we are speaking specifically about French. We would have appreciated having disclosure, language disclosure, including foreign languages. We don't understand why the company would refuse to provide us with this information.
A simple measure, following some information on the Radio-Canada website. We have an obligation to respect the Charter of the French Language, that is not the goal of the proposal. The fact that Bombardier has a French certificate means that the information that we are asking for is disclosure information. This information is available. Essentially, when we analyze a motion, we look at added value for shareholders, we always assess these proposals within this context. We invite Bombardier to look at all of the people involved, all of the stakeholders. In 2009, we made the same request in the social responsibility report of the business. Chair and CEO at the time mentioned that our social corporate responsibility is very important. We invite the company to revisit its declaration within the context of disclosure of the languages spoken by directors.
This was a practice which several years back, was done by SNC-Lavalin, who had their own issues, but disclosed the languages spoken by their directors. Clearly, we invite all shareholders to support this motion, this proposal. We understand that within the context of the things published in the news that we are not the only ones supporting this. No matter what the results that will come out of this, it would be a very good idea to disclose this information, if only to understand the interests of all parties involved, beginning by the entire group. Thank you very much, Mr. Chair.
Thank you, Mr. Gagnon, for your presence and for your interest in good governance with Bombardier.
We know that you are acting as a proxy for another shareholder to move and second this proposal, the languages as spoken by board members. Yes, I am acting on behalf of Mr. Jacques Roussel from Trois-Rivières. Thank you. Mr. Masluch, did we get any questions pertaining to this proposal?
Mr. Chair, I confirm that we have not received any questions pertaining to this proposal.
Thank you. I'd now like to ask shareholders to vote on proposal number one, languages spoken by directors. If that is not already done, please do so. Ms. Torkia Lagacé will remind us how to proceed.
Yes, just, don't forget that if you have already sent your vote in and you don't want to change your vote, there's no need to vote via the webcast platform because your vote is already taken into consideration. Having covered all the items on the agenda, we invite you to vote if you have not yet done so. We will close our poll in one minute.
I confirm that the poll is now closed. Our scrutineers have told us of the preliminary results. First of all, the Ernst & Young mandate has been re-elected, so Ernst & Young has been reappointed. All directors were elected with more than 96% of the votes. I congratulate them and welcome Ms. Rose Damen. Thirdly, a majority of votes were cast in favor of the non-binding resolution on Bombardier's approach to executive compensation. Finally, a majority of votes were cast against the proposal number one as presented by the MÉDAC, Disclosure of Language Proficiency Languages Spoken by Directors. A report highlighting the final voting results will be available on SEDAR.
Now that we have dealt with all of the items on our agenda, I propose that we close the formal portion of our meeting before moving on to an address by Bombardier's President and CEO, Mr. Éric Martel, followed by a question-and-answer period. Given that there are no further questions to submit to the meeting, I would like to ask for a proposal to close the meeting.
Mr. Chair, my name is Julie Turcot. I am a shareholder of Bombardier. I move that this meeting be adjourned.
Thank you very much. Do we have a seconder?
Mr. Chair, my name is Marie-Geneviève Crépeau. I'm a shareholder of Bombardier. I support this proposal.
I therefore declare the meeting adjourned. I'd like to invite Bombardier's President and CEO, Mr. Éric Martel, to take the floor so that he can share his vision and talk about the company's objectives.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Good morning to all. Today, I wanted to tell you about a year that has been extraordinary for Bombardier, for its projects, its products, and its services. I'd like to start by talking about the financial picture of your company for starters. Thanks to the hard work done by our teams over the past 12 months, or actually over the past few years, our revenues are up, and our margins are improving. Our orders are strong, and we are accelerating our production and our deliveries.
At Bombardier's progress, when you compare our results from 2020 to 2022. Our revenue grew by 23%, including a 50% increase in aftermarket revenues. Our profitability improved by 4.6 times, and this trend continues when you look at the Q1 results Bombardier just published today. I wanna pay special attention to our debt, which we have reduced by 45% since 2020. This is a major achievement. The financial community is taking notice of our progress. Bombardier received credit rating improvement by S&P and Moody's in the last year. The most recent was from Moody's earlier this month, upgrading the company to a B2 rating. I congratulate Bart and his team for their work in helping repair Bombardier's balance sheet.
Given the excellent progress as completed Bombardier, I was recently very pleased to announce new financial targets for 2025. During our Investor Day last month, we did announce that we are now targeting annual revenues of more than $9 billion and an adjusted EBITDA of more than $1.625 billion by 2025. Between now and 2025, we expect to generate cash flows of more than $900 million and achieve net leverage in the range of 2.0x-2.5x. These goals would have been challenging to imagine in 2020, Given our solid strategy and our capacity to execute our solid strategy, Bombardier is now in a much better financial situation than it has been in years.
We're also evolving our product and services. On the portfolio side, last year was a big year. We introduced the Global 8000, the business jet that will fly farther and faster than any other. We also revealed that our test aircraft for the Global 8000 broke the sound barrier. No other business aircraft has done this, I like to mention it because I hope it will inspire people to pursue careers in aviation. Also this year, we began delivering the Challenger 3500, another new aircraft that is proving to be very popular.
Our plane portfolio is exceptional and continues to attract attention in the world of defense. Since the launch of the Bombardier Defense in April, we have seen encouraging growth potential. With decades of experience and established defense programs around the world using our proven and trusted business aircraft platforms, we believe that we are in a financial position, a good financial position to complete our success. We believe that this business can reach between now and 2025, $1 billion in revenues, especially since recent geopolitical tensions remind governments of the importance of monitoring the air.
Last year was truly historic for Bombardier as we expanded our network by nearly 50%. We opened new service center in Melbourne and Miami and expanded existing facilities in Singapore and London. Late last year, we also announced a new service center in Abu Dhabi. We already see the positive results of this investment as we service a greater portion of Bombardier's fleet of more than 5,000 business jets. Beyond our footprint, Bombardier's aftermarket business continue to evolve, for example, through our Certified Pre-Owned aircraft program and our data-driven solution to monitor the health of our aircraft.
Of course, how we conduct our business is just as important as the results we achieve. Every single year, we publish a comprehensive environmental, social, and governance report that clearly outlines Bombardier's progress as we strive to become a more sustainable company in an increasingly responsible corporate citizenship world. Our objectives are clear, including those to promote diversity and inclusion and to increase the number of women in management. Our next ESG report will be published in May.
I want to take a moment to focus on our leadership in sustainability for the business jet industry. Bombardier has a plan to support the business aviation industry in reaching net zero carbon emissions by 2050. For our own carbon emission, we are on track to reach our 25% reduction target by 2025 compared to 2019. We are working on ways to reduce emissions in the long and short term. Our EcoJet research project seeks to dramatically reduce emissions by fundamentally changing the shape of an aircraft. We're now conducting test flight with scales model. We are also making an immediate impact. Bombardier recently announced a landmark agreement with Signature Aviation to cover the totality of our flight operations with sustainable aviation fuel through a book-and-claim arrangement.
It's also important to mention that Bombardier is the only business jet manufacturer to publish Environmental Product Declarations. So far, we have EPDs for the Global 7500 and the Challenger 3500, and we committed to having them for all new aircraft going forward.
I'd now like to say a few words with regards to some of the recent changes that we have made to the executive team. In 2022, we created the position of Vice President and Chief Ethics and Compliance Officer. We welcomed Martin LeBlanc to our executive team. By creating this position, we demonstrate how important it is for us to demonstrate integrity in all of our activities. Jean-Christophe Gallagher, who led the aftermarket team for several years, now leads the Aircraft Sales and Bombardier Defense team, which is a huge growth sector for the company. Paul Sislian, who long led Bombardier's operational activities, is now leading the after-sales activities. We expect to continue to have a substantial impact on our results. David Murray has assumed responsibility for manufacturing activities, in addition to his responsibilities for IT and the implementation of our operational excellence system.
Finally, Éric Filion came back to Bombardier to lead the programs and supply chain teams. For many of our senior managers, these are huge and very considerable new challenges, and I'm confident that these changes will create more and more value for Bombardier.
I'm proud to say that Bombardier grew its global workforce by more than 2,000 people in 2022. We're proud to offer an inclusive, dynamic working environment for our teams.
As you can see, our outlook for the future is very promising. We expect existing favorable winds to outweigh potential headwinds. Our list of things to do is strong. Our balance sheet, our business aircraft utilization remains above 2019 utilization levels. Used aircraft inventories remain low, and the number of people traveling by business aircraft continue to grow.
Must stay focused on its strategic priorities. We will maintain our leadership position in the medium and large business jet categories. We will materially grow our defense business and continue our aftermarket success story. Finally, we remain deeply focused on finishing the work required to repair our balance sheet.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you very much for having been with us here today. It is a true pleasure to talk about all of Bombardier's achievement.
Thank you for joining us today. It's a true pleasure to talk about Bombardier's many achievement.
We are now pleased to answer any questions or to get any comments from our shareholders. You can send your question by clicking on the Message tab on your screen. As a reminder, questions need to pertain to business and activities belonging to Bombardier and cannot be of a personal nature. Mr. Masluch, I turn this over to you.
Thank you, Mr. Chair. The first question comes in English from Mr. Jeff Carlson.
Carlson, and I am a shareholder and proxy holder. Bombardier's corporate earnings have been dismally poor for many years and now, in fact, continue to be negative. While there have been glimmers of hope and positive news, most of it has been very short-lived. My question is, will Bombardier ever again achieve sustained positive long-term earnings for it to be able to survive as a viable business, free from government handouts?
Mark, I can answer. Mr. Carlson, thanks for first of all, for your question. First of all, I got good news for you today because we actually just reported this morning our Q1 earnings number. We're showing being profitable across the board in any way that you could look at our profitability. The company has become and is on a path to, you know, deliver profit quarter after quarter. We're happy, and I will invite you probably to look at the number, but just this morning number were, like, extremely positive. If you look at Q1 over Q1 last year, we grew our sales by 17%. Our EBITDA grew by 27%.
We've continued to reduce our balance sheet, you know, debt again, in the quarter. We got upgraded by, you know, Moody's also. I think the financial community is recognizing the progress we've made. Again, I think the results, you know, are showing an amazing perspective long-term for Bombardier. In regards to the question about government money, first, I am happy to report that we have very little government money in our company today. Bombardier, you know, basically have about CAD 250 million of the Canadian government that we had when we developed it to the Global 7500.
That airplane has been extremely successful, we are reimbursing every single dollar of that to the Canadian Government as we deliver more and more airplane. That's the story, in great perspective long-term for our company from our point of view today.
Mr. Chair, the next question comes from MÉDAC. Bombardier is one of the only companies with more than 20 to not hold meetings in person this year. We no longer have COVID constraints. We can do a lot of things when we are in person that are not possible by, you know, the web. Why are we waiting?
When we look at the number of participants in person at our meetings, we realize that there are very few people, and we believe that the web platform allows us to communicate with a large number of shareholders and allows us to have good discussions, so we don't see why we would spend money to have an in-person meeting for a dozen shareholders.
Mr. Chair, I confirm that we have no more questions.
Let us now draw to a close our question period.
On behalf of the company, I would like to thank you for participating in this meeting. We appreciate your continued support. I wish you all the best to you and to your families, and I hope that you will stay safe and in good health. Good day, and thank you.