QUEENS PARK – Michael Gravelle, MPP Thunder Bay-Superior North will be introducing legislation at Queen’s Park today to require that public bodies that purchase mass transit vehicles may only consider eligible bids that meet certain conditions. These conditions include a requirement for at least 60% of the part of the bid price relating to materials, overhead, labour, and profit to be an account of materials, overhead, labour and profit originating in Canada. The final assembly of the mass transit materials must take place in Canada.
“The time has come for us to protect Ontario manufacturers who have a long history of producing mass transit vehicles in our Province.” said Gravelle. “Bombardier has successfully done that job for many decades now and I want to continue to see Thunder Bay’s largest private-sector employer benefit from the significant public mass transit work that will be happening in Ontario over the next number of years.”
The introduction of the Bill takes place at approximately 1:15 pm today October 28, 2019. If passed at 1st reading, Gravelle will be debating the legislation on Thursday, October 31st in the afternoon, approximately at 1:30 – 1:45 pm.
“The Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce is proud to support Mr. Gravelle’s Private Members Bill which will help to level the playing field for mass transit manufacturers in Ontario and will ensure that Ontarians receive the best value for their tax dollars through the creation of local jobs and expertise,” states Thunder Bay Chamber of Commerce President, Charla Robinson.
“Mr. Gravelle’s proposed legislation has our strong support. This is about creating jobs in Canada for products and services paid for by Canadian taxpayers. Our government should have the appropriate levers to do that, as do governments in other jurisdictions,” says Thunder Bay CEDC CEO, Doug Murray
