TTC officials have chosen Montreal-based Bombardier Inc. to build Toronto's next generation of streetcars - a record contract worth $1.22-billion - but major questions remain about who will pay for the new vehicles and how much of the work on them will take place in Canada.
The recommendation comes almost a year after the Toronto Transit Commission rejected a first proposed streetcar from Bombardier, warning that it would derail on the system's tight turns and steep hills. TTC officials and the company say the latest design would work on the city's tracks.
But the mammoth order for 204 larger, modern, air-conditioned, accessible-to-the-disabled streetcars to replace the city's 30-year-old existing fleet cannot go ahead without federal and provincial funding. So far no cheques are in the mail, and the nine city councillors who oversee the TTC will be asked Monday to approve the deal contingent on funding.
While Adam Giambrone, chairman of the TTC, said he was optimistic the money would come before a June deadline that would see Bombardier's offer expire, a senior Queen's Park source yesterday sounded less than enthusiastic: "We have no plans to make an announcement, and no plans to have any plans on this one."
Meanwhile, the deal was structured to force whomever won the contract to manufacture at least 25 per cent of the new streetcar in Canada. Both Bombardier, and its only rival, Germany's Siemens - which it significantly underbid to win the contract - had agreed to those terms.
But Mr. Giambrone said Friday that he and Mayor David Miller would now push for more Canadian content, which could mean more jobs at Bombardier's plant in Thunder Bay, Ont., and at parts plants in the Toronto area.
"We recognize that in a time like this jobs are very important to protect," Mr. Giambrone said.
The TTC chairman said the city would approach both the province and Ottawa, normally expected to cover two-thirds of this kind of project, about whether they would be willing to pay more to ensure more of the vehicle was made in Canada.
Bombardier spokesman David Slack said the firm was open to upping the amount of Canadian work. As it stands now, parts of the vehicle would likely be built at Bombardier's light-rail plants in Vienna and in Sahagun, Mexico, and then assembled in Thunder Bay.
But Bombardier officials, along with the Canadian Auto Workers union that represents staff at the Thunder Bay plant, had previously called for as much as 50-per-cent Canadian content in the deal.
The TTC's 25-per-cent figure, subsequently endorsed by the province, was set after a consultants' report warned that a higher bar would scare off foreign bidders and mean handing the deal directly to Bombardier.
The transit agency was stung by controversy in 2006, when the mayor and the commission - over the objections of then-TTC chief general manager Rick Ducharme - chose to award a $674-million subway contract to Bombardier without allowing foreign bids, in an effort to create jobs in Thunder Bay.
Speaking to reporters, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said talks were continuing but was non-committal about helping to pay for the new cars, pointing to his recent pledge of $7.2-billion for transit in Toronto, including two of the mayor's proposed Transit City light-rail lines.
However, those lines, on Finch and a partially tunnelled line on Eglinton, are supposed to use some of 400 additional new streetcars included as options in the proposed base contract for 204 that the TTC unveiled yesterday.
Chris Day, press secretary for federal Transport Minister John Baird, said his office received letter from Mr. Miller yesterday, formally asking for federal stimulus funds to pay for the streetcar order. Mr. Day said Toronto's request would be considered: "We want to ensure Toronto gets its fair share."
Jeff Gray