Ontario New Democrats pushing for “Buy Ontario” policy

TORONTO, Ont. – The head of the province’s New Democrats is pushing for a “buy Ontario” policy, in light of a decision made to award a multi-million dollar GO train refurbishing contract to a company in Quebec, instead of Ontario.

Andrea Horwath believes only Ontario-based companies should be considered for Ontario government projects, and is not worried about a trade war between provinces.

“I think that there’s room within those agreements between the provinces to allow for those kinds of policies,” Horwath told reporters, Wednesday. “Other provinces have those kinds of policies.”

“We have a lot of great companies here, and I think we need to make sure that we’re feeding them and we’re putting bread on the table of Ontario workers, first and foremost, when it is public projects that we’re talking about.”

She has also called on Premier McGuinty to scrap the $120 million Metrolinx GO train deal with the Quebec-based CAD Railway company.

“I believe it’s that important, that he needs to take a stand here and he needs to reverse this decision if it’s not too far down the pipe,” she said.

Ontario Northland’s bid was $2 million higher, but both Horwath and the CAW claims the return would have been worth it.

“The value, the benefits that would have come back to Ontario, just through taxes and the wages of those workers, would have been four times that amount,” she said.

“I think the payback that we get – not only in terms of keeping the workers working and keeping money flowing through our economy – far outweigh any actual dollar figure attributed to the contract itself.”