This thing is not going to go away and the Liberals better not hide

CAW Local 103 Vice President Andy Mitchell hands petitions to Nipissing NDP candidate Henri Giroux 1,000 signed petitions to deliver to New Democrat Leader Andrea Horwath.

The first provincial MPP has officially entered the fight to have Metrolinx withdraw the Go Refurbishment Contract from Quebec’s Canadian Allied Diesel (CAD). Today NDP MPP Gilles Bisson, Timmins-James Bay went on record sending a letter (in photo gallery) to Premier Dalton McGuinty calling on him to intervene and reverse this decision.

Grounded by fog in Elliot Lake, Bisson was unable to make his scheduled news conference at the Ontario Northland Shops on McIntyre Street East Monday morning, but via Nipissing NDP candidate Henri Giroux and Timiskaming-Cochrane candidate John Vanthof his message was delivered. The letter calls on the Premier to stand up for jobs in northern Ontario.

"Reversing this decision makes good economic sense for North Bay and the Ontario government," he states in a news release.

He too points out that although the bid by North Bay-based Ontario Northland was $2 million (or 1.6%) higher, the Canadian Auto Workers notes that the jobs would return $7.5 million tax revenue to the province.

Bisson notes that the recently released New Democrat platform calls for a Buy Ontario law to make sure money spent in Ontario creates jobs in the province.

"If we want to keep good jobs in Ontario, we need to make our tax dollars create jobs here," said Bisson.

Giroux suggests the McGuinty government has to have an honest look at just how flawed the Open Ontraio policy is.

"I think the McGuinty government has to look at this policy and award this contract to North Bay here Nipissing."

It's a lot of job(s) that we are potentially might loose and I think he has to do the right thing."

"Plus it's in Ontario. We always talk about creating jobs in Ontario this is a good way of keeping the job(s) and if they're saying there is other jobs that they might bring then bring then bring those jobs to but keep thses ones also," states Giroux.



Vanthof says now is the chance for McGuinty to stop talking the talk and start walking the walk when it comes to doing right by northern Ontario.



Also present was former mayor and PC candidate Vic Fedeli also calling on the Premier to reverse the decision. He once again reiterated that if this was happening in southern Ontario the Premier would have jumped into action long ago.

“Somebody’s got to sit up and say alright enough’s enough. Throw the towel in … we made a mistake let’s at least revisit this and see if there is at least a way forward."

“Think about it this way there’s a $6-million economic loss coming to the tax payer of Ontario, potentially 109 men and women fighting for their jobs to support their families being lost -- somebody’s got to sit up and say alright enough’s enough. Throw the towel in … we made a mistake let’s at least revisit this and see if there is at least a way forward."

He says even looking at it closer to home this wouldn't happen in Sudbury.



North Bay Mayor Al McDonald along with CAW Local 103 Vice President Andy Mitchell are still waiting to hear from Premier Dalton McGuinty on the issue.

“The Premier has gone silent,” states Mitchell.

“And we’re hoping today maybe he’s back from vacation that he’ll pick up the phone and give us a call.”

Mitchell still holds out a glimmer of hope that the silence means the Premier and his Liberal colleagues are feverishly working behind the scenes to fix the issue. He says he has heard from Nipissing MPP Monique Smith on Friday where she assured him she is working hard on finding replacement work and will get back to him should there be any new develops.

At the same time Mitchel, pleased to have another important voice in Bisson and his fellow NDP Party members joining the fight, warned the Liberals today that the issue isn’t going away. He says the team is now looking to bringing the fight south and have looked at a number of ways to get the message out to Ontario tax payers such as riding the go and talking with commuters, taking an ad in the transit paper and/or going to Queen’s Park.

“It’s good to see the opposition parties actually stepping in.”

“I know Vic (Fedeli) has taken petitions down to Tim Huddak as well because it’s going to take a three party approach to resolve this thing. All the parties (have) got to get together and say listen we’ve got to do the right thing for Ontario.”

“We’re going to put the heat on. This thing is not going to go away and the Liberals better not hide.”



To date ONTC officials say they and not looking at layoffs should the contract move forward to CAD but the union officials say the painting is on the wall if there is no work more than 100 workers will lose their jobs.

Meanwhile, on Friday North Bay Mayor Al McDonald sent yet another request to the Premier for a face to face offering the opportunity to explain the colossal damage sending the contract to Quebec would cause not only to North Bay but to the north east Ontario region.