Representatives from the General Chairperson's Association (GCA) which represents all unionized employees at Ontario Northland (ONTC) have been denied by Infrastructure Ontario access to the recent request for proposal (RFP) documents in regards to the contemplated sell-off of provincially owned ONTERA.
"Premier Kathleen Wynne's Throne Speech outlined her government's willingness to hear all the voices of this province and work to prevent mistakes before they occur. That message, while still fresh, has not made its way down to the bureaucrats. Today we wrote to (the) premier, Finance Minister Charles Sousa, Infrastructure Ontario Minister Glen Murray and Northern Development and Mines Minister Michael Gravelle, requesting that they instruct Infrastructure Ontario to release the ONTERA RFP documents," said Brian Kelly, GCA spokesperson.
In March 2012, in announcing the sell-off of the ONTC, including the cancellation of the Northlander passenger train, then Minister of Northern Development and Mines Rick Bartolucci assured everyone that "our government will be fair, open and transparent as we proceed with this transition".
"There's approximately $125M in outstanding severance, pension and benefits owed to management, unionized employees, retirees and surviving spouses who need to be assured those earned benefits are fully protected in any potential transaction," said Kelly.
