Tram deal: Union “alorist”, opposition “doesn’t understand”

Paris | The La Pocatière workers’ union is “alarmist” on the tramway and the opposition shows a misunderstanding of international trade agreements, Bruno Marchand has condemned.

• Also Read: Tramway: Alstom prompts “pieces” for Union La Pocatière plant

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• Also Read: Stage 3 of the tramway: A disconnected or provocative mayor, according to the opposition

“They certainly had an alarmist excursion,” remarked the Quebec mayor, on his way to the final leg of his mission in Europe, Paris.

He responded the day after the publication of a press release from the Bombardier La Pocatière-CSN employees’ union, which denied that “Quebec City tramway cars are made in Mexico” and that workers here have nothing but “pieces”.

For Meyer, “25% of Canadian content is not pieces, not final assembly pieces, and we want it to be more”.

Canada-Europe Agreement

But he recalled, like Prime Minister Francois Legault, that these deals are governed by the Canada-Europe Agreement, which requires limiting protectionism, under penalty of fines.

“The Quebec government, and we, are at the limit of what we can do by honoring the agreement. […] It is impossible to do more than the context.

He reiterated that Alstom had promised to do more than 25% and that details of the production line would be known later as Alstom had two years to start construction.

Villeneuve

He took a shot at opposition leader Claude Villeneuve, who congratulated himself for not supporting the adoption of the treaty.

“I question his understanding of international conventions,” said the mayor.

“When the Leader of the Opposition says he will do otherwise, it is impossible. He has two options: either we don’t sign this agreement and say there is no tram. The other option is to outsource it and allow companies to make less than 25% Canadian content.

Mr. For Marchand, both these options are “unacceptable”. He denied lying as the opposition was accusing him. “When you buy a car made in Canada, there are parts that come from other places.”

Obsession

Patrick Paquette, head of Team Prioritize Quebec, said the mayor judged that “he did not understand. There’s no point in talking, yelling, yelling, anything, you can’t build a project of this size with people who don’t understand. Mr. Pocket has a fixed idea of ​​killing the tramway. He never gives up. This is politics that I don’t like. It hurts Quebec.

In the National Assembly, the situation also caused a reaction. The finance minister, Pierre Fitzgibbon, confirmed that 25% local content in this type of deal, “is the standard”. He said he was “surprised” by the union’s exit. “There is a line [de montage] It will be built for that. This is excellent news for Quebec. […] When Alstom bought Bombardier, there were maybe 100 people [l’usine de] La Pocatière. […] Today their number is 400.

“Obviously we want to have as many economic benefits as possible in Quebec, I will follow the file closely,” said Jonathan Julien, the minister responsible for Capitale-Nationale.

In collaboration with Marc-André Gagnon and Genevieve Lajoie, Parliamentary Office