Air Canada: The Math Tells the Story

Interesting times at Canadian airports these days, but it's not clear whether the average Canadian understands precisely what the real problem at Air Canada really is.
Charles Adler's end of week segment with the Globe & Mail's Dan Cook revealed some startling facts:
> Market Cap: $227 Million = $0.227 Billion
> Pension Liabilities: $13 Billion
In other words, the company owes approximately 57 times in union pension commitments than it is currently worth.
Since many people's eyes glaze over when they see "millions" & "billions", another way to look at is like this:

Imagine a 25 year old, living on his own in a rented apartment, tallies up everything he owns and determines it to be worth $10,000. Then he looks at credit card and bank statements and realizes he owes $570,000.

That, in a nutshell, is Air Canada's predicament today.