VIA Rail long distance trains | An uncertain place for local content

VIA Rail can finally think about replacing its long-distance trains which have run long enough to go around the world 195 times. However, it will be necessary to show imagination to have a minimum of local content in the cars and locomotives that will be purchased.

The reason: the name of the state company appears verbatim in certain agreements – including that on public procurement of the World Trade Organization (WTO) – which prevent it from imposing such requirements.

“From then on, the rules of free trade apply and among these, the most basic of all, is the prohibition of giving more favorable treatment to national goods to the detriment of foreign goods,” summarizes the professor. in law at the University of Ottawa Geneviève Dufour, who specializes in international trade issues.

For now, companies interested in VIA Rail’s multi-billion contract can have peace of mind. We cannot force them to assemble trains on Canadian territory or require them to do business with local suppliers.

In Canada, Alstom is the only rolling stock manufacturer to operate factories capable of building railcars and locomotives. The French giant notably owns the former Bombardier Transport factory in La Pocatière, in Bas-Saint-Laurent.

The first phase of the VIA Rail project got underway on Monday with the announcement of requests for qualifications (DDQ), a process which will ensure that applicants for this multi-billion dollar contract will have the necessary know-how. to be able to be part of the next steps.

For the federal company, the purchase of 42 locomotives and 313 cars is not a luxury. Most of its long-distance trains were built between 1946 and 1955; they have therefore already accumulated between 69 and 79 years of existence. These are the cars that connect Halifax to Quebec, then Toronto to Vancouver.

They also serve regional routes, such as Winnipeg-Churchill or Montreal-Senneterre, the frequency of which is likely to be significantly affected in the coming years.

“We are entering a process that will take eight to ten years,” explains VIA Rail’s vice-president of major projects, Arnaud Lacaze, in an interview. We have been talking with manufacturers for almost two years so that they understand our specificities. We want to see how we can use all or part of their platforms to meet our needs. »

How to guarantee local content?

It is not easy to impose local content requirements due to current business rules. For example, WTO rules govern trade also covered by agreements between Canada and Europe, the United States and Mexico or the Trans-Pacific Partnership.

In the Quebec-Windsor corridor, new trains purchased from German giant Siemens are built in the United States before being transported to this side of the border – a decision that drew criticism in 2018.

According to M^me Dufour, there is a way to achieve this – at least, in part.

No rule of law prohibits VIA Rail from adding “environmental and social” requirements that could promote Canadian suppliers, underlines the expert.

“When we impose very high rules in terms of labor standards, for example, we exclude many countries, like China,” she explains. We can also demand materials that have not been manufactured with excessively high greenhouse gas emissions. When we do this, we end up excluding companies that use Chinese steel and aluminum. »

To achieve your objectives, you need “a lot of imagination” when the time comes to draft the call for tenders, underlines M^me Dufour. In Europe, we do it frequently, she adds. In Canada, it is time to “send messages” in this sense, believes the law professor.

Asked about this question, Mr. Lacaze affirms that VIA Rail has already started to integrate requests to regulate everything that revolves around labor standards and “traceability” of materials. It remains to be seen how far the federal company will go on the issue of long-distance trains.

“We will see, indeed, if this will remove some [des constructeurs] », affirms Mr. Lacaze, without going any further.

VIA Rail needed to begin planning the replacement of its long-distance trains. Last February, the federal company warned that the end of the useful life of its long-distance trains was expected in 2035.

Without a green light to proceed with the replacement, the organization feared it would have to make major cuts to its service if nothing was done.

With the collaboration of Henri Ouellette-Vézina, The Press