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September 26, 2006
Help us
The untendered three-quarters-of-a-billion-dollar contract for new Toronto subway cars will go ahead, absent some kind of federal heroics (the fallout from which might keep David Miller in office for 25 years — tough to know what to hope for on this). I can't decide which sentence in the Star article best sums up the state of Toronto municipal politics.
Candidate #1:
"I guess you'll have a nice trip home," a supporter of the Bombardier deal told Thunder Bay Mayor Lynn Peterson as a small tear trickled down a cheek.
"Every job counts," Peterson told reporters. "Somebody is employed, can pay their mortgage or feed their kids. It doesn't matter if it's in my city or yours."
As a humanist statement that works fine. As a guiding principle for municipal politicians it's baffling.
Candidate #2:
"I'm shocked, utterly shocked as a Torontonian, as a proud Canadian and as the mayor of Toronto, that there's even an argument about this," Miller told a lunchtime rally organized by the Labour Council of Toronto and York Region.
Brilliant — multifariously so. Miller is shocked that some people want to run Toronto the way most other cities around the world are run, and he's expressing it in front of the very union folk whose interests he's really protecting.
Candidate #3:
While German-based Siemens said it could have supplied the cars for a lower price, two consultants hired by the TTC said the price negotiated with Bombardier was a reasonable one.
That's exactly the state of the debate. John Q Public asks, "Why are we potentially paying more to buy these subway cars from Thunder Bay?" David Miller says, "Our consultants say it's a reasonable deal" and disappears in a puff of smoke, as Mr. Public tries in vain to explain that that doesn't answer his question.
Candidate #4:
"If I as mayor stood up and said `We're going to take $500 million from the federal government and the provincial government and we're not going to use it to create jobs in Ontario — we're going to use it to create jobs in China — the federal and provincial governments would never give us another nickel for public transit," Miller said before the final vote was cast.
Uh-oh. Has anyone told Vancouver? They've got 20 trains on order from Korea for the new Canada Line. Edmonton will be getting 26 new California-built LRVs from Siemens in 2008, and Calgary's lousy with similar Germanic rolling stock. I can't find any mention of the wrath the federal government intends to inflict on these cities for their heartlessness.
There is hope for the future, though:
Councillor Mike Del Grande (Ward 39, Scarborough-Agincourt) accused fellow councillors of hypocrisy for insisting on made-in-Canada subway cars while buying foreign-built cars for personal use.
"Even the mayor drives a Prius, which is built in Japan," he said.
Zing! Seriously though, Miller must have a formula. Input weighted factors of union interest (anti-Japanese) and environmental concerns (pro-Prius) and divide by cost. Purchase accordingly and act shocked that there's even a debate about it. It is so depressing that his only competition in the upcoming election is from Jane Pitfield, whose platform amounts to little more than "everything David Miller is not."
Posted by Chris Selley at September 26, 2006 11:54 PM
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Comments
Fair comment on all your points, though I should point out that Toyota has a major and expanding plant in Cambridge, Ontario, so buying Japanese benefits Canadian workers as well. They handle the Matrix and Corolla lines and will soon be adding the Prius, I believe.
Posted by: James Bow ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.tartcider.com/blog/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 28, 2006 10:25 AM
"so buying Japanese benefits Canadian workers as well."
Only very indirectly, James. Roughly analogous to claiming that buying from Siemens helps Canadian workers, since Siemens has a fire and security alarm business in Quebec. Of course, the City of Vancouver shouldn't buy any GM products since they do bugger-all manufacturing in BC, while Toyota has the CAPTIN wheel shop out in Delta...
Maybe instead all levels of government should just look for the best value for their taxpayer's dollars, and let the firms in their jurisdictions compete on their abilty to provide that value.
Posted by: DCardno at September 28, 2006 12:00 PM
Yeah, I was just nitpicking. Personally, I think jobs in Thunder Bay are worth considering, but that's not Toronto city council's job. Their job is to get the best value for their purchase. If Bombardier'd had a subway plant in Toronto, then this consideration might have come into play, but if anybody is to speak for the workers of Thunder Bay, it should have been the province or the feds. Toronto City Council was really overstepping its bounds, in a most odd way, by citing the Thunder Bay link as a major consideration of their decision.
You can argue that a sole-source supplier of your entire subway fleet gives you benefits in the form of volume discounts for your spare parts and reduction in storage complexity, but the jobs aspect left me scratching my head.
Posted by: James Bow at September 29, 2006 01:16 AM
"You can argue that a sole-source supplier of your entire subway fleet gives you benefits..."
Yes - although the volume discount benefit (if any) should have been priced into the Bombardier bid, the TTC should also look at the impact on their own logistics costs. Even if Bombardier had a plant close to Toronto, I could see the "regional economic impact" argument (I would still question it, but at least I could see the argument), but Thunder Bay? As you say, you can only scratch your head...
Posted by: dcardno at September 29, 2006 10:07 AM