Alstom’s train factory in La Pocatière, Quebec, is experiencing significant growth after facing potential closure due to layoffs and inconsistent production over two decades. With recent government initiatives pushing for Canadian-made products, Alstom has secured contracts worth $4.7 billion to build VIA Rail passenger cars and other transit vehicles across Canada, leading to an increase in staff from about 150 in 2021 to 550 currently. The company attributes this revival partly to the United States’ protectionist policies that limit imports, encouraging a similar approach in Canada to rebuild local manufacturing capacity.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-02,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Amid the push to build Canadian, a Quebec train factory is booming
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factory → build → Canadian
Once on the brink of possible closure, Alstom's plant in La Pocatière, Que., is now growing
For Claude Michaud, the increasingly loud buzz of machinery, welding and ringing steel is a source of optimism at the train factory where he has worked for much of the past 34 years.
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he → grow → years
The Alstom plant in La Pocatière, Que., a community of about 6,000 people, has endured waves of layoffs and uneven production over the past two decades.
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plant → endure → decades
But amid a wave of new Canadian projects, the plant is expanding its factory floor and preparing to hire more staff.
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plant → expand → staff
"There's pride in building trains at home for people here in Canada," Michaud said in French.
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Michaud → be → French
Alstom, a French company whose Americas headquarters is in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville, Que., is seeing a rise in orders amid a push by all levels of government to buy Canadian.
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headquarters → see → Canadian
The company completed its acquisition of Bombardier's rail-building division in 2021.
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company → complete → 2021
The company is building rail cars for Vancouver's SkyTrain, subway trains for the Toronto Transit Commission and vehicles for a new Quebec City tramway.
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company → build → tramway
It will soon begin work on a $4.7-billion contract to build long-distance passenger cars for VIA Rail.
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It → begin → Rail
But it became heavily dependent on export projects, often for the United States.
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it → become → States
The number of employees at the plant — more than 1,000 in the 1990s — fell to about 150 in 2021, according to Alstom and the union.
uncertain
number → fall → Alstom
The decline threatened the economic viability of keeping the facility in operation.
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decline → threaten → operation
Now, there are about 550 employees and the company is preparing to grow.
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company → be → ?
A shift toward buying Canadian
Olivier Marcil, Alstom's vice-president of public affairs for Canada, said increasingly protectionist manufacturing policies in the U.S. effectively closed the door to the market south of the border.
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policies → buy → border
The U.S. Federal Transit Administration Buy America policy requires projects receiving federal funding to use materials and final products, including buses, trains and ferries, manufactured in the United States.
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projects → buy → States
The threshold of percentage of domestic components was raised between 2016 and 2021.
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threshold → raise → 2016
"When you look at the megatrend that we've experienced over the last decades — the United States were asking a lot from manufacturers to build local, right?
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States → look → manufacturers
While Canada was not asking anything," he said.
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he → ask → anything
"If everybody's protecting their industry, everybody's nurturing their industry — Canada must come at par with those and do the same."
Rebuilding manufacturing capacity
Dan Breznitz, a professor at the University of Toronto's Munk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy, said there are challenges to restoring manufacturing in sectors such as rail.
He said Canada needs to be more strategic about which industries it chooses to invest in as part of a return to manufacturing.
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it → protect → manufacturing
We have to find the people, we have to find the manufacturing, we have to find the other factories that produce everything that you need to make rail," said Breznitz, who studies how innovation and government policy affect industries.
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innovation → have → industries
"The problem is, if you don't do it for 20 to 30 years you lose the skills."
Nearly a decade of work
For Alstom, the VIA Rail project will generate manufacturing work for nearly a decade, with additional employment supported by a 15-year agreement for technical support and spare parts.
The new long-distance train cars will be built in La Pocatière, with final assembly in Thunder Bay.
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cars → do → Bay
Frédéric Platteeuw, Alstom's site manager in La Pocatière, said the facility will have to scale up and adapt to focus entirely on the contract for the Crown corporation.
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facility → say → corporation
"It's a real challenge, such a project, because it will push us to rethink all the layout," he said.
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he → push → layout
For employees like Michaud, the new contract signals a long-awaited shift from the federal government.
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contract → signal → government
As a union leader, he pushed for years for the federal government to introduce Canadian-content requirements for trains.
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government → push → trains
A major blow came in 2018, when a $989-million contract for VIA Rail's Quebec City-Windsor corridor fleet was awarded to German company Siemens, which built the train cars in California.
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which → come → California
Michaud followed in the footsteps of his father, who built the first cars to roll out of the plant for the Montreal Metro.
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who → follow → Metro
He said it's refreshing to see the plant, where other members of his family work, come back to life with Canadian projects.
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members → say → projects
"We see that the government is finally listening," he said.
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he → see → ?
"A dollar invested in Quebec and in Canada is money that stays in our country."
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that → invest → country
The Aporia
