Transportation minister asks city to consider sole-procurement of TTC’s Line 2 trains amid tariff war

A woman boards a Line 2 subway car on a hot day.

Ontario’s transportation minister has penned a letter to the City of Toronto, asking if it would consider a sole-procurement deal of the TTC’s new subway trains to support local workers by building made-in-province trains.

Prabmeet Sarkaria, in his letter to Mayor Olivia Chow on Wednesday, says the matter is about the “importance of standing up for Ontario workers.”

“As President Trump’s tariffs, and the economic uncertainty they have created take aim at Ontario’s economy, our government is doing everything in its power to support and protect Ontario workers and businesses,” the transportation minister writes.

Since March 12, a 25 per cent tariff has been slapped against Canadian steel and aluminum—a move that has raised concerns among the automotive and construction sectors.

That said, late last year, the federal government said it would front $758 million dollars for Toronto to replace the deteriorating trains along Line 2 of its subway system. By 2026, the trains that run on the east-west line will be about 30 years old, nearing the end of their design life.

The city and province had previously put forward $1.52 billion together to fund the 55 new trains, as agreed upon in the Ontario-Toronto New Deal penned in 2023.

Speaking to reporters on Thursday afternoon, Premier Doug Ford said that if they are going to be new trains, they should—“to the best of our ability”—buy here in Canada.

“Preferably right here in Ontario,” Ford said. “Let’s support Ontario workers. Let’s support Thunder Bay workers, people in Kingston as well, and even Quebec.”

In his letter to the mayor, Sarkaria says the province was “proud” to sign that deal to ensure the TTC would run safely and provide a reliable source of transportation for commuters.

To continue on with the initiative to better the TTC’s transit line, however, the transportation minister asked the City of Toronto to consider a sole-source procurement agreement with Alstom—a rail manufacturer with a plant located in Thunder Bay. Sarkaria says, should the city agree, the move would “support Ontario workers in Thunder Bay and across our province.”

“The Ontario government will work with the city and the federal government to ensure the successful delivery of the trains should this decision lead to any changes to the project scope,” Sarkaria writes.

“It’s $2.5 billion—each of us take a third of it,” Chow told Newstalk 1010 this morning.

“I’m now waiting for the federal government to get elected, so I can ask the new transportation minister to do the same thing. But it’s not the first time that we’re building a new subway car [in Ontario].”

The move to support local businesses and sectors has been thrust toward the centre-stage since the start of Trump’s imposed tariff war, as America’s closest trade partners continue to be pulled around at the commander-in-chief’s whim, leaving local economies in a tumultuous, uncertain position.

• READ MORE: Costs, chaos rising as metal tariffs pile up with no end in sight

The transportation minister caps off his letter by saying he looks forward to continue engaging with the city and the TTC on this procurement and the opportunity it presents to “support Ontario works by building made-in-Ontario trains.”

In a social media post, Unifor National President Lana Payne says the union fully supports the province’s request.

“Putting our procurement [dollars] to work to maximize Canadian jobs and content is always good policy and in these times even more so,” Payne’s post read.

With files from CTV News Toronto’s Phil Tsekouras