TORONTO - Labour critics want Premier Dalton McGuinty to implement a new made-in-Canada manufacturing policy before Ontario spends billions of dollars on new transit projects.
The Toronto Transit Commission has plans to purchase 204 light-rail vehicles for $1.2 billion but is only required to spend 25 per cent of the total with Canadian companies.
The Canadian Auto Workers union says other countries like the United States require that 60 per cent of major infrastructure spending stays domestic.
The union says Ontario should develop a similar policy, especially considering the 65,000 manufacturing jobs that were lost in the province last year.
John Cartwright of the Toronto and York Region District Labour Council says the Ontario government has been dismissive when asked to consider a made-in-Canada policy thus far.
But he wants the government to reconsider since a second phase of the TTC contract is expected to bring the project up to $3 billion, and Ontario plans to spend $17.5 billion on its MoveOntario 2020 plan in the years ahead.
