So, is Queen's Park's reticence on this issue some kind of poker-faced bargaining tactic to try to drive the Feds to the table?
I can't imagine that, when push comes to shove, QP won't step in to pick up the remaining $800-million--which lets not forget amounts to very, very little per annum over the ten-year contract. Almost a rounding error, really. But I guess the problem becomes, as with MoveOntario, that if the province says up front that it will proceed with or without federal money, then Ottawa is off the hook.
Edit: more from George Smitherman, who is claiming to have been surprised by the streetcar plan. I guess it would be churlish to point out that what, six streetcar lines run through his constituency? And this thing about not entering into contracts you can't pay for is pretty rich, considering the history of this process.
He is my MPP, and I have written him. I urge you all to do the same with yours.
Did TTC put cart before the streetcar? Ontario Minister thinks so...
Posted: April 28, 2009, 4:42 PM by Allison Hanes
TTC, streetcars
The political arm-wrestling has now begun over funding for the Toronto Transit Commission's plan to buy $1.22 billion worth of new streetcars from Bomardier.
George Smitherman, Ontario’s Minister of Energy and Infrastructure, today rebuked the TTC for presenting the deal as a fait accompli – before securing money from the provincial and federal governments.
Meanwhile Mayor David Miller fired back that it would be "shocking" if senior levels of government didn't step up with cash given the potential for the award to rescue Ontario's beleaguered manufacturing sector.
Toronto has set aside a third of the purchase price, the TTC has called Ottawa and Queen’s Park to pay for the rest – and it needs an answer by 2 p.m. on June 27, the deadline to place the contract with Bombardier
“I heard the news, I was in Waterloo, ‘Oh the city have said they’re going to do the contract with Bombardier.’ And in the next breath I heard we were paying for it. So that was a bit challenging,” Mr. Smitherman said today at an event on the revitalization of Regent Park, with Mr. Miller just steps away. “I’m little bit perplexed… I’m not really accustomed to operating in an environment where you have an announcement about the acquisition of a product and the entering into of a contract, absent of the financial resources to do that.”
Last week the TTC named Bombardier as the winning bidder to build 204 low-floor, fully accessible streetcars to replace Toronto’s red rockets in the downtown core.
Already touted as the largest light rail purchase ever in North America, the award to also comes with an option to buy up to 400 more streetcars for eight brand new lines in the Transit City network.
The TTC this week approved the contract and said it will pursue upping the minimum 25% Canadian content in the vehicles – a move that has excited workers at Bombardier’s Thunder Bay plant and won a promise from Ken Lewenza, head of the beleagueredCanadian Autoworkers Union, to “camp out” on politicians doorsteps until they pledge the money.
Mr. Miller said the streetcar purchase would create manufacturing jobs for Ontario’s stricken auto parts makers as well as Bombardier workers in Thunder Bay.
“If want to stimulate the economy at a time when manufacturing industries are in decline, this is precisely the right way to use that public money to create what will become a whole new manufacturing industry,” he said. “It would be shocking to Canadians if this type of investment wasn’t made.”
The Mayor added he is “confident” a solution will be found because the contract is “too important.”
"It really depends if you want to create a Made-in-Canada manufacturing industry or not. Do you want hundreds of jobs in Thunder Bay and parts suppliers all over Southwestern Ontario – that’s the real question," he said. "How can they not?"
But Mr. Smitherman said he hopes the TTC hasn’t prematurely gotten up the hopes of Ontario’s manufacturing sector.
“I was in Thunder Bay last week and I just think that for the people that work at Bombardier they could have got a bit of a wrong impression from that announcement on Friday, because it’s a little out there,” Mr. Smitherman said. “If you can’t write the cheque, should you say that you’re entering into the contract?”
The minister also pointed out that Premier Dalton McGuinty recently announced an “unprecedented” $9 billion investment to fund 100% of the Eglinton and Finch light-rail lines, which are part of the Transit City network, as well as the Scarborough RT.
Toronto can to apply for economic stimulus money for the streetcar purchase to the provincial and federal governments by the May 1 deadline. But Mr. Smitherman suggested the city “winnow” its list of priorities to compete for scarce funds.
“[The Mayor] has previously spoken to me about me about Union Station as his priority and the Sheppard line as his priority. Well, my daddy taught me if you have 100 priorities you don’t have any,” Mr. Smitherman said. “But we leave it to them to tell us in that May 1 response, what are your top notch priorities.”