On Friday, the Federal Government announced $758 million in funding for new subway cars for the Toronto Transit Commission's (TTC) Line 2. Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland said recently that she expects the cars to be built in Thunder Bay.

The Federal Government has come through on funding for this project after a long wait and a lot of anticipation. The total cost of the project is expected to be about $2.3 billion, with the Federal Government, the Provincial Government, and the City of Toronto equally splitting the cost. It seems at this point that the Deputy Prime Minister is not alone in her support of Thunder Bay, it appears that all three levels of government are supportive of the forthcoming Alstom bid.

The potential contract will be to build more than three hundred individual train cars over the course of a five-to-ten-year period. The contract would employ hundreds of workers in Thunder Bay. Importantly, I believe that the Line 2 project should include a made-in-Canada commitment. Canadian businesses that work with Alstom, across the supply chain and across the country, could benefit from this contract and the construction of these train cars in Canada.

The TTC will begin a competitive bidding process to choose the manufacturer for this contract soon. My recent meetings with the City of Toronto and the leadership team of the TTC indicate that there will be a points system that will include criteria for the impact of the contract on the Canadian economy. I believe that the inclusion of this criteria is essential.

In addition to the work I have done in Ottawa, I have been working with the City, the TTC, and Alstom for over a year to secure funding for this project. I will continue to work to get this project over the line, with a made-in-Canada requirement included.

The jobs at the Alstom plant are essential to Thunder Bay. These are the kind of good paying union jobs that are far too hard to come by these days. Keeping the jobs that are supported by the Alstom plant, and creating new ones is at the top of my to-do-list.

We are going to have to wait until the ink on the paper is dry, but this is looking like a very positive outcome for Thunder Bay.