Thunder Bay Alstom plant to build TTC streetcars as Ottawa boosts Toronto-Hamilton transit

Thunder Bay's Alstom plant will build another set of streetcars for the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), the federal government said Tuesday.

The streetcars are part of a $12-billion fund to improve transit in the Greater Toronto Area and Hamilton, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.

"Not only will these new streetcars keep Toronto's air clean, this deal will also help protect good, middle-class jobs at the Alstom automotive plant in Thunder Bay."

Work will also go to another Alstom plant in La Pocatiere, Que.

The electrically powered streetcars will be zero emission, Trudeau said. 

Thunder Bay's plant, which at the time was owned by Bombardier, built 204 streetcars for the TTC, which were delivered by the end of 2019 after numerous delays.

"The big question now is how soon can we get the people back to work inside the plant and what kind of a crew are we looking at," said Domenic Pasqualino, president of Unifor Local 1075.

"That's totally unknown for me right now, and traditionally our plant had 800 to 1,000 people working in it."

More transit-related work expected

Pasqualino said there are about 300 workers at Alstom in Thunder Bay, but that figure will fluctuate as contracts wrap up.

He said additional work could come to Thunder Bay, as the provincial and federal governments are also expanding subway lines in the Greater Toronto Area.

"Sixty cars is what we absolutely need, but we probably need more work than that. What I'm hearing is they're looking at more work for the plant."

Pasqualino said Tuesday's announcement is positive, with operations at the plant "looking better than they were a week ago."

"We've been lobbying for this for several years, at least four years on all this to try and get more work for the plant.

"Ideally we want 100 cars a year or more to produce, so you're looking at a considerable amount of money, you're looking at $400 [million] to $500 million every year, so you're looking at a considerable amount of money ... and certainly southern Ontario has a great desire for our product."

Pasqualino said that in spite of issues with the LRV cars early on, he believes the plant can now produce cars quickly and efficiently. However, he said, it could take a year to retool the plant, along with new parts orders

"I can't afford to have these people off for that long, so hopefully we can do something quickly."