While the union is worried about receiving only “crumbs” from the Quebec tramway, the firm that won the contract ensures on the contrary that the La Pocatière plant will carry out the bulk of the work estimated at 1.34 billion.
“It’s a bad reading of the situation,” said Alstom spokesman Olivier Marcil about the exit of the CSN-affiliated union, which deplored that the construction of tram cars escaped scrutiny. La Pocatière plant for the benefit of Mexico.
The cars of the Quebec tramway will not be built in Mexico, assured the spokesperson for the multinational during an interview with The Press. “The cars will be built from parts from different suppliers, including suppliers from Quebec, in a new assembly line in La Pocatière,” he explained.
The former Bombardier plant in La Pocatière, bought by Alstom in 2021, will be the company’s plant that will have the largest share of the Quebec tramway contract, said Mr. Marcil.
Alstom was the only bidder following the call for tenders launched by the City of Quebec. The contract signed Monday by the parties provides for the construction of 34 cars and their maintenance for a period of 30 years, at a cost of 1.34 billion.
The 100% electric trams are those of Alstom’s Citadis range, which are already running in several French cities, as well as in Ottawa, Rotterdam and Rio de Janeiro. The Quebec tramway will run for 29 kilometers and should be ready in 2029.
The cars were designed and engineered by Alstom engineers in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, and they will be assembled at the La Pocatière plant, which was “at the heart of our offer to the City of Quebec,” according to the company.
Local content
Unlike the contract for the Réseau express métropolitain (REM) granted to the Caisse de depot with no requirement for local content (the cars were built in India), that of the Quebec tramway came with conditions.
“There were two important obligations in the call for tenders, namely a minimum of 25% local content and the realization of the final assembly in Quebec”, specified Olivier Marcil, adding that the La Pocatière plant would have “the lion’s share” of the tramway contract.
PHOTO MARTIN CHAMBERLAND, ARCHIVES LA PRESSE
Tram car at the Alstom innovation center in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville
The 25% share of local content should be exceeded, according to the Minister of the Economy, Pierre Fitzgibbon, who believes that the union members of the factory are wrongly worried.
“The plant has never been in a good position,” he said in response to questions from Parti Québécois leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon.
“When Alstom bought Bombardier, there were 100 people [à l’usine] and they had no more contracts. Today, there are 400 people and they are having trouble recruiting”, also said the minister, questioned by The Press.
“They assemble,” says Fitzgibbon
“You have to understand what La Pocatière is. La Pocatière does not make trains from A to Z, they have never made any train in their lives. They assemble. »
With the contract from the City of Quebec, the plant inherits “the bulk of the work”, according to him.
On the union side, on the contrary, it is maintained that the La Pocatière plant has already built trains and is still building them, since it currently manufactures the cars of the Toronto tramway. Limiting himself to assembly operations risks causing him to lose his expertise.
“We don’t turn our noses up at this, but we would have liked to have had more,” said Louis Bégin, president of the CSN’s Manufacturing Industry Federation.
Mr. Bégin recalls that the government of Mr. Fitzgibbon granted a “forgivable loan” of 56 million to Alstom to modernize the La Pocatière plant with the aim of making it a center of expertise in public transport.
The 25% share of local content appears to be insufficient to achieve this objective, according to the union, and it should be increased.
For the Minister, this is another discussion. “We have to choose our battles,” he said. “Do we want to integrate all trams in Quebec? he wondered. Maybe if we have four or five REM coming, we’ll convince Alstom to set up a real parts manufacturing plant. We are not there yet, but we are courting them. »
With the collaboration of Tommy Chouinard, The Pressin Quebec