THUNDER BAY — "Buy cars now rather than later."
That was the simple, straightforward message Dominic Pasqualino says he took to a Toronto city council budget consultation on Tuesday.
The president of Unifor Local 1075 and another union representative appealed to the councillors to approve funding for an order this year for 60 additional streetcars for the Toronto Transit Commission.
In his deputation, Pasqualino stressed the importance of maintaining the production line at Bombardier's Thunder Bay plant for the benefit of the workers, Toronto and Ontario as a whole.
"If you're getting these cars now, it helps our plant immensely and keeps jobs working in Ontario. Some other company might not be able to do that," he said.
The union leader also pointed to the value of sticking with the Bombardier product, saying it would require a smaller parts inventory and eliminate the need for retraining drivers and maintenance staff.
Pasqualino said having a steady stream of work at the plant is more efficient than getting orders in spurts with extended downtime in between.
Some of the questions from councillors, however, suggested they may need more persuading before approving money for 60 cars.
"They were saying, 'Well, would you and Bombardier be OK if rather than a 60-car order we had a smaller order?' I strongly suggested they need to be looking the other way, of building a larger car order, because that's more economical and efficient," Pasqualno said.
He conceded that the question line at that point "was a little bit disappointing" but said he still hopes Toronto can strike a deal with Bombardier even though there's no approved budget for additional streetcars yet.
In a presentation to the TTC last month, Unifor Ontario director Naureen Rizvi cautioned the board that the Thunder Bay plant is at risk of being closed before 2021.
"It is the one plant that is able to meet the requirements for TTC streetcars," Rizvi said, additng it's the only plant that could meet a 2022 order date.
That's the date established in the most recent TTC plan for future procurements.
But Unifor national representative Kaylie Tiessen, who also spoke at Tuesday's meeting, joined Pasqualino in arguing that it is in Toronto's interests to put an order in much sooner.
Tiessen noted that Mayor John Tory has stated publicly that the city already requires additional streetcars to meet demand for service.
In an interview on Wednesday with tbnewswatch.com, Pasqualino declined to comment on a Bloomberg report this week that Bombardier and French train manufacturer Alstom have held preliminary discussions about combining their rail business.
"That's way above my head," he said.
Neither Bombardier nor Alstom has commented on the report.
