THUNDER BAY — A day after Prime Minister Trudeau promised new work for Thunder Bay's rail car plant, the details that were lacking in his announcement are expected to be revealed at a news conference that will include the president of Alstom Canada.
Federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna and Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney are scheduled to make a virtual announcement at 11 a.m. on Wednesday.
They will be joined by Souheil Abihanna of Alstom, other federal and provincial government representatives, the mayors of Thunder Bay and Toronto, the chair of the Toronto Transit Commission and the national president of Unifor.
In an announcement Tuesday, Trudeau said new federal funding for streetcars would "help create good middle-class jobs at the Alstom plant in Thunder Bay" as well as at La Pocatiere, Que.
With neither government officials nor Alstom disclosing any other information, Thunder Bay-Rainy River MP Marcus Powlowski said Trudeau had "let the cat out of the bag...or halfway out the bag."
Thunder Bay-Superior North MP and Health Minister Patty Hajdu issued a brief statement, saying the announcement meant "good quality jobs for workers at the Alstom plant," adding that "local families have been waiting for this good news."
Following the prime minister's announcement, Alstom released a statement saying only that it "remains committed to meeting the Toronto Transit Commission's expectations, and is ready to deliver more of [its] highly innovative, reliable, service-proven TTC streetcars."
The TTC's capital plan released in October 2020 identified a need for 60 streetcars.
