[URBAN NOTE] "TTC chair says Bombardier aid would be a ‘slap in the face’ to Toronto"

[rfmcdonald]

The Globe and Mail's Oliver Moore reports on rumblings from Toronto city council that funding for Bombardier would be inappropriate given that company's delays.

Government aid for Bombardier would be “a slap in the face” for Toronto, unless the company can first sort out problems bedevilling the streetcars it is building for the city, Toronto Transit Commission chair Josh Colle said.

Mr. Colle said Wednesday that he wants to see tangible change from the company, not just promises that it will do better, before Ottawa seriously considers opening its purse strings.

The Montreal-based firm is angling for $1-billion in federal support to help its troubled aerospace division and its C Series jet program. The two sides remain in talks, and it’s not clear how close they are to a deal. At the same time, the company’s rail division has fallen woefully behind its promises for delivering on a 204-vehicle streetcar contract for Toronto – an order that happens to come in at about $1-billion.

The delays around Toronto’s streetcar order are also leading to mounting concern at the regional transit agency Metrolinx, which is worried about getting its 182 vehicles in time to launch various light-rail lines, an order worth $770-million. Bombardier has not yet delivered the prototype vehicle it promised to give to Metrolinx last year, and time is beginning to run short to work out bugs and produce the fleet required to operate the new transit lines.

[. . .]

“For me, as a resident of Toronto, as a transit user, as a citizen, then when you also read at the same time that there’s potential federal money going out the door, I would just think that their ability to deliver to Toronto and Ontario would have some bearing on that,” Mr. Colle said Wednesday.