Small contracts at Bombardier in Thunder Bay, Ont., hopefully open doors to more work

The announcement of a contract to build 28 BiLevel commuter cars at the Thunder Bay, Ont., Bombardier plant is good news — but it is a short term solution to a bigger issue.

"For long term discussions it's going to really take something more than these small contracts one at a time," said David Van der Wee, the Chief Operating Officer for Bombardier.

"It's going to take us to bid on a much larger scale project. Discussions around the Ontario Line for example," he said, or more TTC streetcars.

"So, it's not a huge volume. At the end of the day, it's very similar to the kind of volume that we got on the extension with the GO Transit. But, it is a very, very critical portion of our plan." 

Van der Wee said he held some promise the Ontario government would keep expanding transit throughout GTA, which would potentially help the plant in Thunder Bay.

"Right now, the criteria to success is to look at proven solutions that Thunder Bay has provided already," he said, noting the TTC requires more streetcars, and the Thunder Bay plant can provide more cars in a faster turnaround time than other plants.

As for the fact that the latest contract serves a transit authority in Washington state, Van der Wee said that opens the door to more work for cities south of the border.

"We will also continue to look at the BiLevel market in the U.S.," he said, noting that many projects which are state funded, are not subject to the "Buy American" provisions attached to federal funding.

At its peak, Bombardier employs about 1,100 people in Thunder Bay. 

Currently, just under half of the workers at the plant are on the payroll working on commuter cars for Metrolinx in the GTA.

Another 50 or 60 employees are gearing up for the facility to manufacture ventilators, along with a medical manufacturing firm from southern Ontario.