Skip to content

Chamber pushes for provincial help to keep Bombardier plant working

Two major contracts, including much-maligned Toronto streetcar order, set to conclude within the next year.
Bombardier TTC streetcar

THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce president Charla Robinson is adding her voice to those calling on the Ford government to help ensure the future viability of the city's Bombardier plant.

Robinson last week sent a letter to Premier Doug Ford, along with a number of ministers and parlimentary secretaries within the Progressive Conservative provincial government to urge for continuation of work at the Thunder Bay mass transit vehicle manufacturing facility.

While the Bombardier plant directly employes about 1,200 people and contributes to hundreds of other local spin-off jobs, Robinson insisted the company's economic impact extends beyond Thunder Bay.

"It's also actually across Ontario. That's one of the messages we really want to get to Premier Ford and a number of the ministers," Robinson said on Monday.

"This isn't just a Thunder Bay issue. This is an Ontario issue. There's millions and millions of dollars in spending to suppliers in the (Greater Toronto Area) from the Bombardier plant here. We want to make sure they're aware of that impact and the number of jobs in the GTA, Kingston."

The plant could be out of work within a year as it is contractually scheduled to complete its much-maligned 204-vehicle streetcar order to the Toronto Transit Commission by the end of the year. That contract also includes an option for 60 additional streetcars. As well, Bombardier is close to wrapping up a deal with Metrolinx for 125 bi-level GO Transit cars, which is under contract for final delivery in the first quarter of 2020.

The provincial budget released earlier this month, the first of the Ford government's mandate, includes more than $28 billion for Toronto transit projects with a commitment of $11.2 billion of that amount from Ontario coffers.

Though any of those new projects won't be realized until well into the 2020s, Robinson encouraged the government to consider triggering extensions to existing contracts that will keep work at the plant going while addressing some ongoing, immediate challenges for Toronto's transit system.

"We know there are still a lot of concerns around the capacity of transit in Toronto. Even using the current lines, there seems to be almost every week some sort of challenge where there's a major gridlock happening because of something that happens and lots of folks complaining about the service," Robinson said.

"Adding more cars, increasing capacity to the current lines, would certainly help to address some of those issues and we're hoping they're going to take that into consideration and maybe we'll get some additional funding flowing through to TTC and GO Transit to help extend those contracts."

Thunder Bay mayor Bill Mauro has made the future of the Bombardier plant one of the top municipal lobbying priorities, discussing the issue with various provincial government officials at various meetings and sending a letter to Ford last month calling for Canadian content requirements for future mass transit vehicle procurements.

Acknowledging any decision would be made within a political climate, Robinson said she believes the local message aligns very well with the government's focus.

"Jobs are jobs are jobs and this government is really focused on jobs," Robinson said. "That's why we think that the bigger message around the number of jobs, not just for Thunder Bay but also for across Ontario, should be really important to this government as it really does fit into their mandate of creating jobs and ensuring employment."



About the Author: Matt Vis

Read more


Comments

push icon
Be the first to read breaking stories. Enable push notifications on your device. Disable anytime.
No thanks