The French firm is opening a Quebec subsidiary with a research-and-development arm and an assembly plant building the airships to carry heavy loads. (The Logic)

Talking point: Flying Whales is trying to fill a similar niche as Drone Delivery Canada (DDC), which announced a deal with Air Canada in June to sell drone-delivery services across 150,000 routes. Both dirigibles and drones could be effective ways to reach remote communities in Canada—DDC wants to deliver to 1,000 over the next five years—but dirigibles can take much heavier loads, such as mining equipment or housing materials, while DDC’s drones cap out at 400 pounds. Flying Whales is already facing some pushback, however. It is 25 per cent owned by the Beijing-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China, which the U.S. has accused of stealing secrets from other aerospace firms. A spokesperson for Quebec’s innovation minister, when asked by the network TVA, declined to comment on the firm’s Chinese ties.