TORONTO — The layoffs at Thunder Bay's Alstom plant and uncertainty still hanging over who will receive a multi-billion dollar contract for new Toronto subway trains made it to the floor of Queen’s Park this week.
On Monday, New Democrat leader Marit Stiles and Progressive Conservative Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria sparred over ongoing job losses at the local Alstom facility, as an order for LRV streetcars for the Toronto Transit Commission is winding down, with no confirmed large-scale new contract yet secured.
“As the NDP member for Thunder Bay-Superior North has pointed out many times, the new Line 2 subway cars can be built right there in Thunder Bay by experienced Ontario workers,” Stiles said, referring to advocacy for the local facility by Lise Vaugeois.
“Now I want to say I saw that the minister finally got around to writing a letter — well, congratulations, but why … did the government wait to advocate for local production and leave those workers in limbo?”
Sarkaria wrote a letter to Toronto Mayor Olivia Chow in late April, pushing for a sole-source procurement contract with Alstom for the 55 new trains. Vaugeois had, earlier that month, written to Sarkaria about advocating for the Thunder Bay facility, according to a press release from her office on April 20.
While Stiles’ question on Wednesday was directed at Premier Doug Ford, Sarkaria fielded it. He highlighted another $500 million contract for the Thunder Bay shop to refurbish an additional 181 GO Transit rail cars for Metrolinx, a provincial Crown agency.
“We have been leading the charge in Thunder Bay in supporting those hard workers every step of the way,” Sarkaria said in the house. “That we are investing to refurbish our Metrolink's bi-level trains — a contract that has gone to Thunder Bay to support those workers.”
Even with that contract, the Thunder Bay plant is still facing over 200 layoffs. Union officials with Unifor, who represents workers on the shop floor, have told Newswatch, the Line 2 contract would be big enough to provide work for the employees scheduled to be laid off and could even bring on some additional hires.
Stiles also took aim at the government for what she charged was a reduction in Canadian content regulations several years ago which allowed another provincial mass transit contract to be awarded to a Hitachi Rail-led consortium, which did not include Alstom, sending work to the United States.
“Is this the message of the Premier (to) the people and the workers of Thunder Bay and their families is it that they should just sit tight while others get those jobs and the orders go south?” Stiles asked.
“The message to those workers in Thunder Bay is Premier Ford will always have your back,” Sarkaria responded. “The premier has personally visited that facility many times, many members in this house and government members have visited that facility and reaffirmed our commitment to ensuring more jobs go to Thunder Bay.”
Sarkaria charged that the NDP votes against government budgets while they include money for contracts that have gone, and could go, to Thunder Bay.
