A deal to have Bombardier Transportation Canada build 204 state-of-the-art streetcars for the Toronto Transit Commission was officially inked in June.
Getting the funding that led to the project, however, was a tense and bumpy ride. That bumpy ride to an eventual good news story becomes tbnewswatch.com’s third top news story of 2009.
The TTC awarded Bombardier the $1.2 billion in April. While the announcement was seen as good news, there was one element missing – money.
Shortly after the TTC announcement, the province stepped forward to say celebrations might be premature. To move ahead with the $1.2 billion contract, the TTC would need funding from the City of Toronto, provincial and federal governments. As of the April announcement, the TTC didn’t have commitments from all three funding sources
"I do think that in these times you have to be a little bit careful about writing cheques that you don’t have the ability to back up," George Smitherman, Ontario’s then-infrastructure minister, told Toronto Sun. "I think the workers in Thunder Bay got an announcement from an entity that doesn’t actually have the financial resources in hand to back it up."
The province would eventually fund one third of the deal, but the federal government didn’t follow.
Toronto Mayor David Miller gambled with the city’s stimulus chances by only submitting one application, which was for the streetcar deal. The application was rejected because it did not fit the stimulus-funding guidelines.
At the last moment, the City of Toronto saved the streetcar contract. The city agreed to pay for the new fleet of streetcars with or without the federal government’s help, despite having to pay double the contribution they expected.
The political drama with the eventual promise of pay off for the Thunder Bay Bombardier plant makes this news story easily fit into the top 10 news stories of ’09.
Getting the funding that led to the project, however, was a tense and bumpy ride. That bumpy ride to an eventual good news story becomes tbnewswatch.com’s third top news story of 2009.
The TTC awarded Bombardier the $1.2 billion in April. While the announcement was seen as good news, there was one element missing – money.
Shortly after the TTC announcement, the province stepped forward to say celebrations might be premature. To move ahead with the $1.2 billion contract, the TTC would need funding from the City of Toronto, provincial and federal governments. As of the April announcement, the TTC didn’t have commitments from all three funding sources
"I do think that in these times you have to be a little bit careful about writing cheques that you don’t have the ability to back up," George Smitherman, Ontario’s then-infrastructure minister, told Toronto Sun. "I think the workers in Thunder Bay got an announcement from an entity that doesn’t actually have the financial resources in hand to back it up."
The province would eventually fund one third of the deal, but the federal government didn’t follow.
Toronto Mayor David Miller gambled with the city’s stimulus chances by only submitting one application, which was for the streetcar deal. The application was rejected because it did not fit the stimulus-funding guidelines.
At the last moment, the City of Toronto saved the streetcar contract. The city agreed to pay for the new fleet of streetcars with or without the federal government’s help, despite having to pay double the contribution they expected.
The political drama with the eventual promise of pay off for the Thunder Bay Bombardier plant makes this news story easily fit into the top 10 news stories of ’09.
