THUNDER BAY —The Alstom plant in Thunder Bay will build an additional 60 streetcars for the Toronto Transit Commission.
The Ontario and federal governments will each contribute $180 million to the project, with the City of Toronto investing $208 million.
Delivery of the streetcars will begin in 2023.
Some of the more than $500 million in total funding announced Wednesday will go toward an expansion of a TTC storage facility to accommodate the new vehicles.
Metrolinx will also continue discussions with Alstom under their existing contract for the refurbishment of additional GO bi-level cars which were built in Thunder Bay.
The president and CEO of Metrolinx, Phil Verster, noted that the workforce at the Thunder Bay plant has first-hand knowledge of the bi-level GO coaches. He said the announcement may result in the refurbishing of coaches starting sooner than had been anticipated.
Confirmation of the streetcar project came during a nearly two-hour-long news conference led by federal Infrastructure Minister Catherine McKenna and Ontario Transportation Minister Caroline Mulroney, a day after Prime Minister Trudeau revealed that an agreement had been reached between Canada and Ontario.
MPs Patty Hajdu and Marcus Powlowski, provincial Energy and Northern Development Minister Greg Rickford, Mayor Bill Mauro and TTC Chair Jaye Robinson also participated.
Alstom Canada President Souheil Abihanna thanked both governments and said the announcement allows the company to maintain jobs and the expertise of its skilled workforce in Thunder Bay. He added that he was grateful for the efforts of Unifor and the community of Thunder Bay on behalf of the plant.
Jerry Dias, the national president of Unifor – the union that represents most of the workers at the plant – expressed gratitude to both governments and said the project will create jobs "desperately needed" in the community.
Dias noted that the plant had 1,100 workers in 2013 but has under 300 today.
The Thunder Bay plant is currently on track to complete the delivery this summer of 36 bi-level cars to Metrolinx under a contract that was announced in September 2019.
Hajdu said the new announcement means good-quality jobs for local workers, and that their families "have been waiting for this good news."
Powlowski, who said securing new work for the plant has been his top priority since he was elected in 2019, called Wednesday "a great day for the workers of Thunder Bay."
Minister Rickford referred to Thunder Bay as the capital of Northwestern Ontario, and raised the possibility of additional work for the plant in the future. He noted that Edmonton is looking at improving its mass transit system, and suggested that might provide one opportunity.
In expressing thanks to the federal and provincial governments on behalf of the community, Mayor Mauro said he had worked with Minister McKenna and Minister Mulroney alongside many others who have been advocating for the Alstom plant and "who have led us to today's announcement."
A Toronto journalist asked how the governments and the TTC could be confident in the quality of the Thunder Bay-built streetcars, given problems that developed in the initial delivery of over 200 of the Flexity-model vehicles constructed when the plant was owned by Bombardier.
Mayor Tory said those problems were resolved, and that the streetcars have performed well.
He gave credit to Bombardier and to Alstom for addressing the issues, saying the TTC would not have advocated for the new purchase without having confidence in the product.
TTC Chair Robinson concurred.
"We have learned from the past," she said "and we have a very strong contract in place to protect" against losses resulting from any potential damages. "We're very confident we'll have great outcomes with this relationship."
Abihanna added that the Alstom team has worked hard to continue to improve the reliability of the streetcars.
Performance issues with the Bombardier Flexity cars have been resolved, he said, and "this is what's so good about the whole idea about sticking to a platform that has proven itself, and to not invent new."
It wasn't immediately made clear how many workers will be employed in Thunder Bay when production is fully underway.
Unifor Local 1075 President Dominic Pasqualino also said it's too soon to say when recalls will begin.
Thunder Bay - Atikokan NDP MPP Judith Monteith-Farrell congratulated the workers "for their efforts and their success getting their plant moving forward" but said the Ontario government needs to do more.
"We need more than stop-gap measures from the province," she said, and suggested that big orders for subways and GO trains are long overdue.
