My comment posted on Macleans.ca blog, in response to why Tories claim Toronto’s streetcar contract is ‘not stimulus’:

Baird claims that because Toronto’s streetcar contract is over a 10 year period, it does not offer “immediate stimulus”, which is a load of crock (see, I can control my language!). The second the contract is signed, the whole chain of supply to build them will be initialized, from the engineers, parts manufacturers, and quite possibly, the construction of a new assembly facility in the GTA. The Toronto streetcar contract also has a “Canadian Content” clause as well, where at least 25% of the value of the contract must be spent in Canada.

The reason why this isn’t acceptable to the Tories is because unlike small scale road and bridge or sewer projects, this is long term, large scale thinking that they will likely not get any photo opportunities from. The first streetcar is not expected to roll off the assembly line for two years, and they’re very well aware that they need a big publicity stunt before that. Once again, the Tory mantra is not to ‘dream big’, but to resort to expediency and short-term political advantage.