Politics is normally a brutal no holds barred activity played by many who do not like the prospect of losing prestige, power, or money. We can talk about lies, half truths or the avoidance of accountability all day, no matter what government is in charge. But I am still one of those people who believe that the voter usually gets what the voter deserves.
Many saw the terrible debate performance of Joe Biden. Lost in that performance was the multitude of lies that came from Trump. Under normal circumstances, that is the story instead of Biden freezing during the debate. The media did a huge disservice by not also covering the estimated 160, lies, half truths or large exaggerations by Trump. And here I thought the role of journalism or reporters was educating the public instead of today’s reality of just selling more advertising.
On July 5th in our local newspaper there was a story about mass transit in the GTA. It involved the possible replacement of subway trains, and the desire to have some of that work come here to our Alstom plant, formerly known as Bombardier.
If it is on the front page, it must be an important story, and the union leaders were pushing to have some of that anticipated contract lead to jobs here as the current work orders will finish next year and there are no new contracts in the hopper. I do not have to tell you what happens if there are no contracts for the plant.
The story contained comments requesting Canadian Content language being included in the tender process. Unlike many other countries, Canada does not have a formal law in that regard. Also, 2\3rds of this contract will be funded by the province. Would we not want those jobs to remain in Ontario? It got me thinking; if only there was some politician who tried to make Canadian Content, the law of this province.
As many of you know, my brother Bill was MPP for the south side of the city from 2003-2018. I will get my bias out of the way quickly but unapologetically. I think Bill was one of the best politicians this city ever had, not because of glib answers or the usual avoidance of taking a position so as not to offend as most do, but because of what this city received while he was MPP and the behind the scenes work that few were ever aware of.
One of the first major initiatives for the then rookie MPP, was to try and make Canadian Content the law of Ontario, I believe the first person to ever try and make this a law. His own government was not a fan, as the Harris government was not, the Rae government was lukewarm at best, and the current Ford government isn’t. All three parties had the chance to make this the law of Ontario.
Despite ruffling countless feathers in his own government, Bill pushed this issue when others would have simply kept quiet about it. And while it never became law, it did become policy on the massive investment that the Liberal Government under Dalton McGuinty made to mass transit in southern Ontario.
The Liberals invested Billions in modernizing and expanding mass transit capacity in the GTA. Where were these jobs going to go? Going to public tender could mean that companies from other countries could win the contract resulting in little impact on the province’s economy. To that point, there was no assurance any of this work would be done here in our city.
One Saturday morning, I stopped by my brother’s office, and he ended up on the phone with a very high official in the Premier’s office. To say that the conversation was “heated” would be putting it mildly. The prevailing position of the Ontario government was these contracts were going to public tender, risking the possible plant closure of our local plant with less than 300 workers there.
I have rarely seen my brother that angry, but his message was clear. He fought for his government to allow the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) to begin direct sole source negotiations with Bombardier. If that were to happen, a great portion of the jobs and money would remain in Ontario and more importantly, locally. I have greatly downplayed the narrative that was taking place that Saturday morning. Much to my disappointment but not to my surprise, my brother never publicly commented on that phone call. Most other politicians certainly would have.
A few days later, the Premier of Ontario, in what was a very unusual move, wrote a letter to the TTC stating that the government of Ontario would not object to negotiating these contracts directly with Bombardier. That decision alone had an enormous impact on our local plant.
From under 300 people, our local plant at one point expanded to almost 1500 workers. The first contract led to others. The money earned by these workers was taxed in Ontario, the wages spent locally for home purchases, in restaurants, sports for kids and a hundred other ways to support our local economy. What could have been a disaster had the public tender route been taken, instead turned into a proverbial pot of gold for our local economy.
Of course, the union workers were overcome with gratitude and showered my brother and Michael Gravelle with thanks. You would be wrong. Instead, the union, against the needs of their own members, actively worked against our MPP’s in subsequent elections, hoping to elect NDP members. Perhaps someday someone can explain to me the desire of people to vote against their own economic interests whether it be at a union meeting, or in the political theatre. Many examples of this can be found.
What was even more surprising however was the then union President, now a member of our city Council publicly stating that it was the Union that was largely responsible for these contracts coming here. I suppose success breeds the desire to take credit.
In the US, dozens and dozens of Republicans are taking credit for infrastructure investments in their community, along with reducing drug costs. It seems they have no shame, having voted against the legislation that made it happen while still criticizing the Biden government for spending the money. Look what I have done for you my constituent they say, but please don’t dig too deep or you will find I voted against everything that is making your life more affordable. Some Republican states will always vote Republican even when it is democrats making their lives better. Ah the illogic of the voter.
In Thunder Bay, we had the union actively working against the local members bringing jobs to this community, while taking credit for the work. Let’s pretend this was reality. It does lead me to ask a question that our media didn’t think to ask. Before the Liberals came to government, less than 300 hundred worked there. While the Liberals were in power, the workforce reached a high of about 1500. Since the Tories came to power, less than 300 work there. Exactly how did the union have so much success with one government, but now cannot duplicate that success? Some might believe that the union leaders had very little to do with that success, but I digress.
In a future article, I will outline just how much my brother and Michael Gravelle brought to this city, in jobs, money and infrastructure, while facing almost non-stop criticism from our local mainstream media and local unions. The law school commentary that I will get too shortly is just one example.
In this July 5th article, the national president of UNIFOR, the union that represents these local workers did state “that Canadian content rules must be observed in any government procurement contracts including the TTC line 2”. I do not believe that is anywhere near enough to guarantee success.
Currently it is the Canadian Government that has not yet committed to funding this project. Could the government put in place conditions regarding how much of the work must remain in Canada; certainly. That would not guarantee local work, but it would guarantee at least some of these dollars benefit Canada.
In 2021, the Quebec government gave Alstom Corporation, a French Company, a $56 million dollar loan to modernize their Quebec facility. This was not good news for our local facility, and it certainly was not something that has been matched by our current provincial government. Should it be?
It is possible we are at a tipping point for our local manufacturing plant. What was noticeable in this article was the lack of any commentary by our elected officials which is necessary to see what if any activity is taking place on the political front. Because politics almost always plays a major role in where these contracts may land.
Currently we have two members of the federal government from our city, with Patty Hajdu being part of the cabinet. If the contract proceeds, I would hope that they are actively pushing for some of this work to land here in our city. We also have a new member of the Ford Cabinet as Mr. Holland was recently appointed to a cabinet position. I would also hope that he is strongly advocating for these jobs, along with our own city council, through resolution or active lobbying to bring the work to this city. Let us hope that is taking place because as I said, politics can be the driving force in where these contracts land.
The local law school mentioned earlier is an excellent example. The province of Ontario was going to open another law school, and the usual people were critical of Dalton McGuinty for not just giving it to Thunder Bay. Many communities wanted this new school. It brings a sort of prestige to a city along with investment, permanent jobs and the economic spin offs that accompany it. Two people were working on this project at a serious level. Their names, Bill Mauro and Michael Gravelle who not only were playing politics in Toronto, but they were up against the cabinet Minister who was responsible for this decision, who had wanted the project for his own city.
When it was announced that Thunder Bay would be the successful city for this project, our local newspaper editorial board was gushing with praise. And once again, believing that would be wrong. The editorial was critical of the decision, calling it crass politics to try and save two Liberal seats. Really? And here I thought the name of the game was politics. Were Bill and Michael not supposed to fight for this project?
That is the job of your elected officials. It is not our MP’s or MPP’s job to worry about other cities. They went to meeting after meeting, pressing their own people on the merits of this school coming to Thunder Bay. They spoke, argued and fought to get it here yet when it was announced, instead of recognizing the effort, it was criticized by a newspaper that often showed its political colours on how a story was portrayed.
The political game is not normally pretty and often decisions are made, no matter who is in power, that benefit those who are elected. The law school decision was made because our two MPP’s made it happen with the support of many others. That is usually how this process works.
So here we are again, with a possible massive contract in the GTA area. So, what is going to happen? We must trust our elected officials are going to press, argue, and persuade their colleagues that the workers in this city need to be supported? This should be part of any future article. It helps generate knowledge and perhaps even a little bit of public pressure if any elected officials are not pushing hard for their constituents.
Our paper had no problem being critical of two MPP’s when they were hugely successful. It will be interesting to see what the reaction is, if the contract moves forward without any of that work, benefiting our local Ontario facility.
One of the roles of mainstream media is to educate the voter and to provide relevant and timely information for people to make informed choices on issues. I have stopped hoping that this will take place locally. Some because of funding and resources, others because this is a small town, and our mainstream media has a long history of not wanting to poke the bear that buys advertising at their respective companies. I have long believed we have been poorly served in providing critically investigated issues and reporting on them based on the facts, and not party affiliation.
I hope the next time a vital community story like this is covered, our elected officials are at least contacted for comment on what they are doing to bring investment and jobs to our city. It might be only a handful of us, but some voters want to know. Just a thought.
Jim Mauro
