"There is a great future for the ONTC," says Gravelle

Minister of Northern Development and Mines Michael Gravelle talks with CAW Local 103 President Brian Kelly and ONTC Vice-president of rails Randy Evers during a recent tour of the GO Transit refurbishment and paint shop.

Minister of Northern Development and Mines, Michael Gravelle, recently stopped by the city Monday to meet with constituents as well as take in his first official tour of Ontario Northland including the rail shop's GO Transit refurbishment section.

Gravelle, impressed with what he saw of the operation, says it was the right move his government made by keeping the ONTC in public hands.

“This is an opportunity to meet with the head office and some of the workers and to thank them for the hard work they’re doing and tell them how impressed I am.”

“This is a great story and one that we support very strongly down at Queen’s Park, certainly as minister responsible for the ONTC I’m delighted to be here and again wanted to reaffirm my support for this great economic driver in North Eastern Ontario,” he states.

“There was a real threat to the ONTC back 5 or 6 years ago during the days of the Conservative Government and we were very committed to keeping it in public hands. We think that’s the right decision, we’re very pleased about that, our commitment remains and we are going to move forward with the operation.”

Gravelle went on to say that the story of the GO Train refurbishment and the paint shop is a good business story that is contributing to the economic health of Northern Ontario.

“It’s helping employ, at this particular place a hundred people, highly skilled people who are becoming the best in the business doing this particular job. When you look at these GO Trains you can’t tell the difference between a refurbished one and a brand new one that’s constructed and I think that is pretty impressive, so it’s a good story and it’s a story that keeps getting better, and so I’m excited about that.”

Gravelle is pleased with the project that he sees the plant continuing into the future but he admits that will not come without struggle and effort.
“We’re working together on a long term plan, and I think what we know is this is an organisation that provides a tremendous amount of employment in North-eastern Ontario, over a thousand I believe, and we want to keep the operation going and keep moving it forward, so we’re in discussions to help make that happen.

“There have been some challenging times there’s no question about it, we’ve know that the down turn in the forestry sector has had an impact on revenues but we’re hopeful that that will turn around, but I think they’ve shown a creativity in terms of trying to find other business possibilities and this story today is one of them, so I think there is a great future for the ONTC.”