A $4.7-billion investment by the federal government for Alstom to build 313 Via Rail cars in Thunder Bay means an additional 200-300 skilled-trades workers will be needed to fill the jobs.
Jason Roberts, president of Unifor union Local 1075, says not only will the Via Rail contract create jobs at the Alstom plant, there will also be more workers required by the plant’s suppliers throughout the city.
“There’s a bunch of fabrication shops that supply us, not to mention our industrial suppliers, said Roberts. “This is great news for all of them as well because their families also get job security out of this.”
With these jobs come training, and Confederation College has been positioning itself to offer a variety of skilled-trades training programs designed specifically for companies that are hiring.
“It means that people will be enticed to come to the college to get their education and the skilled trades training because they know that there’s going to be great jobs coming out of it,” Michelle Salo, college president, said.
The college already has a memorandum of understanding with Alstom to work with them on developing their workforce, which it has been doing for about a year now, she said.
“We’re working side by side with them to make sure that when the contracts are ready to be worked on, we have worked with them to get that labour force developed,” Salo said.
She said that means developing and streamlining programs specifically for job requirements.
Among the apprenticeship programs the college recently added is its machinist program, she said. Salo said welding, machining and electrical are all the trades for which they provide support and training for in Thunder Bay.
“It is a huge win for the City of Thunder Bay and Alstom, but also our future students and employees of Thunder Bay and the region,” she said.
During his Via Rail announcement on Thursday, Canada’s Prime Minister Mark Carney said the development of the Via Rail fleet will support nearly 700 good jobs in Ontario and Quebec, while leveraging and expanding Alstom’s supply network of more than 900 Canadian suppliers.
He said that Canadian electricians, machinists and welders will build the steel frames from Canadian carbon steel.
Patty Hajdu, MP for Thunder Bay-Superior North and minister of jobs and families, said the work begins now to make sure that there is a robust ecosystem in Northwestern Ontario, so that it can be the supplier of choice to Alstom as much as possible.
“This is about Canadian companies procuring Canadian product using Canadian expertise all the way down the supply chain, which creates not just those big jobs at Alstom but all of those other jobs and all of those other training opportunities for all of the folks looking to get into a variety of different sectors,” Hajdu said. “When small- and medium-sized businesses thrive, they’re not just the employers of the next generation, they’re also training up that next generation, which we also need.”
