QUEEN’S PARK – Leaders Ledger – Today is Wednesday, May 30, but just a few days ago back in Thunder Bay, on Friday, May 25, we had another great announcement at the Bombardier plant in my riding. I was fortunate to have the Premier in Thunder Bay with me, along with my colleague from Thunder Bay–Superior North, and we announced another very, very large contract for the Bombardier plant there. On Friday, we announced a $200-million contract for 60 more GO Transit bi-level cars here to service southwestern Ontario. Those cars are valued at over $3 million per unit, and each one of those cars represents about 10,000 hours of work per unit. This is closely connected to the platform commitment we made last year promising two-way, all-day GO Transit service in southern Ontario.
This brings the total contract value, of the total contracts awarded to Bombardier and Thunder Bay, to somewhere around $3.5 billion. Of that, about $1.5 billion or $1.6 billion has come from the provincial government.
When we were elected in 2003, the Bombardier plant there in Thunder Bay had about 250 people working in it. Today there are 1,300 people working in that plant in Thunder Bay. While we were at the announcement, the senior management team told me that they are currently looking to hire 140 more employees, bringing the total employment to over 1,400 people: great news for the workers, great news for the plant, great news for Thunder Bay, and great news for the economy of northwestern Ontario.
Bill Mauro MPP
Thunder Bay Atikokan
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