FONOM gravely disappointed with near-sighted Metrolinx decision

Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities
News Release

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The loss of a $120 million GO Transit railcar re-building contract to an out-of-province supplier has bonded Unions, the North Bay and District Chamber of Commerce, local government and now the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities (FONOM) together in a common purpose.

On June 24, the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission (ONTC) Chair Ted Hargreaves announced that Quebec-based Canadian Allied Diesel (CAD) had been awarded the next GO Transit Refurbishment Contract by the Metrolinx Board of Directors to re-build 121 GO Transit cars.

Al Spacek, President of FONOM and Mayor of Kapuskasing exclaimed, “We are very dismayed."

"Northern Ontario has second to none re-manufacturing capabilities in North Bay that are supported by Ontarians and in turn support Ontario’s ‘Common Good’. Again, we are gravely disappointed by the very near-sighted, Metrolinx decision to send GO Transit work out of the province.”

Mac Bain, North Bay City Councillor and Past President of FONOM noted, “FONOM is on record that there needs to be a revitalization of the Ontario Northland Transportation Commission as an economic development driver, and that the Province needs to work with Federal authorities to protect and strengthen the North’s rail capacity. By awarding a major, job-creating contract to an out-of-province vendor when the ONTC bid was less than 2 per cent higher than the winning tender makes no economic or political sense. It erodes the capability of ONTC to maintain its other operating divisions.”

President Spacek went on to state, “This contract and the inherently flawed tendering process used by Metrolinx needs to be reviewed immediately to ensure macro-economic considerations such as job creation and regional competitiveness and not simply price are used to decide which company wins bidding contracts. FONOM's interest in this issue is increased by the fact that the ONTC serves all of Northern Ontario, therefore the loss of this contract, while it most immediately may seem to impact the City of North Bay, is much more far-reaching.”

Simply put, noted Tom Laughren, Mayor of Timmins and First Vice President of FONOM, “This contract must be re-considered in the context of what makes sense for North Bay, Northern Ontario and indeed all of Ontario. This
should be an urgent and important priority for the Ontario Government before it’s too late.”

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