With Bombardier struggling with a multi-billion dollar loss this year, the Quebec government is riding to the rescue.

Analysts say it's unfortunate that Bombardier is stuck in this situation, and say the province has no choice but to once again bail out the aeronautics company.

On Thursday Economic Development Minister Jacques Daoust confirmed the province is "investing" $1 billion in Bombardier in exchange for 49.5 per cent of the company's CSeries airplane project.

"Today with a writeoff they could have abandoned the project, "said Daoust.

He believes it is much better for the province to chip in cash now in hopes the company will be able to use the money to stay afloat long enough for the plane to be completed and sold.

"It's risky but it could be profitable," he said.

Political analyst Jean Lapierre said the political cost of allowing Bombardier to fail could be catastrophic. The company lost $4.9 billion this year.

"Bombardier needs the money. We're talking about 17,000 jobs and the company needs some room to manouevre," said Lapierre.

He said that with other industries leaving Montreal, such as the loss of the pharmaceutical industry, retaining Bombardier's aerospace expertise has become a point of pride.

"We're taking risks, and it's a leap of faith, but we have 243 firm orders, and 360 that are interested, said Lapierre.

"Otherwise the industry will disappear. "

Management professor Karl Moore agrees that Bombardier is a critical part of Quebec's economy.

"Part of it is that it's a great part of our history. One of Quebec and Canada's few multinationals developed and built around the world," said Moore.

He does, however agree that Bombardier has done very poorly when it comes to handling expenses on developing a new jet.

"It's probably $3 billion over budget so clearly it's screwed up from a budget viewpoint," said Moore.

With the company $9 billion in debt, and development costs of $6 billion for the CSeries, Moore suspects this investment from the provincial government will be just enough to keep the company going, but it will need to sell its planes.

"It certainly gives them a lot of breathing room, but they're going to have more cash needs on top of that, said Moore.

"The product should be done next month, it's 97 per cent completed."