TIMMINS – NDP Transportation Critic Gilles Bisson called for a return to a ‘ Buy Ontario ’ policy in the wake of an announcement that GO Transit has awarded a $190-million order to Bombardier’s Thunder Bay facility.
“This Thunder Bay plant is a world-class manufacturing site, and this announcement shows there is no reason to be sending major government orders outside the province,” said Bisson, MPP for Timmins-James Bay. “The decision to buy provincial transit infrastructure in Ontario should not be a rare, one-time photo op, it should be the rule. We need more orders like this going to Ontario firms to create the kind of jobs that can support a family, instead of shipping jobs overseas. If the Liberals hadn’t scrapped the ‘ Buy Ontario ’ policies, we wouldn’t be used to losing contracts like this to companies outside Ontario.”
Bisson and the New Democrats have called for more comprehensive ‘ Buy Ontario ’ policies for some time, which would keep public procurement contracts in Ontario where possible. In 2011, a major deal to refurbish existing GO Trains was awarded to a Québec company instead of a North Bay-based Ontario Northland shop with the capacity and expertise.
“Of course we’re happy that this contract is staying in Ontario, supporting jobs and creating new investment in the North,” explained Bisson. “But it is a bittersweet reminder that this government is more interested in creating photo-ops and good news headlines than they are in creating policies that actually help Ontarians. Major purchases with the taxpayer dollars should be made in Ontario whenever possible as a rule, not an exception.”
