TORONTO - Ontario should scrap a $120-million GO Transit refurbishment contract with a Montreal firm and give those jobs to a northern bidder, the New Democrats said Monday.
"Ontario Northland, based in North Bay, has made a very competitive bid for this contract which would keep more than a hundred good paying jobs in Ontario and pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy," NDP critic Gilles Bisson said in a letter to Premier Dalton McGuinty.
"It simply makes no sense to allow Metrolinx to award the contract to Quebec-based CAD in order to 'save' $2 million, when keeping the jobs in Ontario will return tax revenues to the treasury of almost four times that amount."
McGuinty could still make the change, Bisson added, since the contract between Metrolinx and CAD has not been executed.
"This government could admit it was wrong in its additional decision not to intervene, and I think they have a chance to show northern Ontarians that they're prepared to do something to (their) advantage," Bisson, who represents the riding of Timmins-James Bay, said in an interview.
"In northern Ontario there's not a lot of other things that you can do sometimes to offset those job losses because of our geography and where we are."
Ontario Northland lost out on the deal last month, when Metrolinx awarded the five-year contract to refurbish 127 cars to CAD Railway Industries, saying it by provided the lowest bid.
The decision came even as Ontario Northland workers were wrapping up a current contract to refurbish 121 GO Transit coaches for Metrolinx.
A spokewoman for Transportation Minister Kathleen Wynne said Metrolinx followed "an open, transparent procurement process using the procurement guidelines for government agencies and the contract was awarded to the lowest bidder."
She also noted that the company was pursuing other projects to keep the lines at full capacity.
Ontario Northland has indicated it will likely absorb some of the job losses through early retirement, Bisson said, but those are jobs that won't be coming back.
The Canadian Union of Public Employees Ontario has also expressed concern over decision, calling it "proof the McGuinty government has abandoned real economic development in northern Ontario."
Work refurbishing the cars is set to begin in October.
Ontario's New Democrats are asking Premier Dalton McGuinty to scrap a $120-million GO Transit refurbishment contract with a Montreal firm, saying the jobs should go to a northern bidder.
NDP critic Gilles Bisson says North Bay's Ontario Northland made a "very competitive" bid for the contract, which would keep more than a hundred jobs in the province.
It would also pump hundreds of millions of dollars into the local economy, Bisson says, so it just doesn't make sense to allow Metrolinx to award the contract to Quebec-based CAD.
Bisson says there is still time to take action, since the contract between Metrolinx and CAD has not been executed.
While the Ontario Northland bid would cost $2 million more than the CAD offer, he adds, keeping the jobs in Ontario will return tax revenues to the treasury of almost four times as much.
Ontario Northland workers have been wrapping up a current contract to refurbish 121 GO Transit coaches, and the company's union has said it's worried the 100 employees who work directly on refurbishing the rail cars may be at risk.
