Converting GDLS-C from L.A.V. Manufacturing to High Speed Rail and Light Rail Transit Manufacturing
I arrived at MP Kurt Holman’s office on a sunny Tuesday morning. The treats I had brought for the meeting did not make it to the door as the chocolate truffles melted in the Spring sun. I waited for a moment as a moving truck from the Brick dropped off a new sofa for the office. Kurt and other office staff were quite excited to put that sofa to work, and I was intrigued to see all the volunteers abuzz in the board room working on citizenship packets for new residents to the area. I wondered to myself, how many of those new citizens are here due to the type of manufacturing London is currently engaging in?
Shortly after arriving I was ushered into a small meeting room where Kurt was waiting for me. Heidi Machel, the office manager, came and joined the conversation as well as my friend Skylar McFarlane. Though I asked to record the meeting, Kurt preferred that I didn’t, so I will rely on memory of what we spoke about as my note taking skills are still somewhat lacking.
Kurt and Heidi both provided a welcoming space where they listened to the concerns I brought forward. They were both interested in learning about the issues that informed the positions I hold. Whether these issues swayed Kurt’s opinion or generated movement towards demilitarizing our society, I’m sure more work will need to be done.
The focus of this meeting was the retooling of GDLS (General Dynamics Land Services) into a manufacturer of train components rather than LAVs (Light Armoured Vehicles). But to start I wanted to talk about values: where they come from and how they are informed. I came back to this a few times throughout the conversation as it is something I struggle with understanding. We all want what is best for our community. But where do we draw the line for who is in that community?
Kurt expressed that he ran on Conservative values and that he is here to represent the members of London- Fanshawe.
Is it just London – Fanshawe? Well, I want the rest of London to thrive too.
What about Ontario? The rest of Canada? Of course I’d like to see people in Victoria B.C. thrive as well.
What about the rest of the world?
For the rest of the world it came down to the Foreign Minister’s assessment of those relationships as to whether we could support or not.
I rolled out the large letter that was composed by the community. This contained my introduction of watching Earth’s Greatest Enemy by Abby Martin, followed by numerous sticky notes expressing the communities thoughts; stop the militarization of our society, stop Cop Cities, stop militarizing the police, invest in public transit, public infrastructure, and social services. This letter provided a good launching point for us to get into the substance of our visit.
Kurt noticed a sticky note that boldly said “Public Transit” and wondered if these notes were about more than just the film. In fact, public transit is a massive component of why I wanted to have the meeting with Kurt in the first place. We have a choice as Londoners, do we want to be an epicentre for the construction of Earth’s destruction? Or would we rather spend our time producing more effective ways for people to travel across our beautiful planet?
The Economic Boon to our Region
I introduced an article that was in the London Free Press early in April (De Bono, 2026). This article detailed and lauded the increased military spending in the London area which will provide 4000 jobs. Jobs to manufacture artillery shells and light armoured vehicles, jobs to sell military equipment to our Canadian forces and to other nations around the world. This report was something that Kurt saw as a good thing as it provided lots of good paying jobs to the area. But still I ask, are those jobs worth it if what we are manufacturing goes towards murdering workers in other nations?
Ah, but these machines are going to our allies and they need the equipment for self-defence. Kurt quoted Theodore Roosevelt, “speak softly and carry a big stick” to which I later reflected on a Xena Warrior Princess episode, but can be more easily summed up with John Wayne in Rio Bravo, “you want that gun? Pick it up” as he advances with his rifle drawn towards a desperate man. John Wayne knows, if you pick up a weapon you become a target, you become a legitimate threat that can be dealt with summarily. We are not going to out-gun the United States, we will never have that big of a stick. The “allies” that we sell to may not be our allies tomorrow. Or they may sell those weapons to our “enemies” when they are done with them. A weapon is a weapon, and if we produce it we are producing it for the world to use. If we produce a train, we are producing it for the world to move. As climate disaster intensifies year-after-year humanity must stop fighting ourselves and realize there is no “other side.” Pouring billions of dollars into an industry that only consumes carbon and destroys habitats, no matter what “side” we are on it will be the losing side.
But 4000 jobs. That’s a lot of stable income for the people of London – Fanshawe. Thankfully there is a project in the works that is promising over 50K jobs. The Federal Government is launching Alto; the High-Speed Rail that will stretch from Toronto to Quebec City with additional stops added in subsequent years after the initial construction. London could be the city that brings High-speed rail to Canada. Additionally, as all of our cities grow, more efficient and effective light-rail transit is required in all of our cities. So a project that might look like a one-off, decade long initiative could turn into a long standing train manufacturing outfit that supplies Canada and all of North America for decades to come.
The Imperative of Light-Rail Transit
At a certain point I had to ask whether Kurt was aware of the atrocities happening in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Not surprisingly, Kurt had a vague knowledge that there was an issue with resource extraction, but not fully aware of the extent of the situation. I provided a couple of articles for his office to read more about the environmental and human toll that is underway in that country. Articles linked below.
It is imperative that every city makes it a priority to become walkable, and host a robust public transport option. Independent car culture needs to be a thing of the past. Since the early 2000s our demand for electronics has risen and so has the demand for cobalt and other precious minerals. This has led to the enslavement and genocide of Congolese people who are forced to extract these precious minerals without gaining access to the wealth they provide. Estimates of over 6 million people have been murdered in the country since the early 2000s, with an additional 6 million people displaced. The rates of sexual violence and child mortality are exacerbated with children, especially young girls, being subject to sexual violence, being maimed by the mining process, and the widespread development of cancers caused by the heavy metals they are forced to work with. This is all instigated by the need for cellphones and computers which require around 6 grams of cobalt to function. Today we are transitioning from internal combustion engines to electric vehicles, pushing the demand for cobalt to 60 kiligrams per individual need. Congo is home to 70% of the worlds cobalt resource and generates over 80% of what we use. This is accompanied by a destabilized region meant to keep the prices of the minerals down so that the rest of the world can extract with little regard for the people who are forced to perform the labour.
However, if we create a robust public transportation system, allowing regular folks in the city to remain carless. We can reduce our demand for the rare-earth minerals. We make cities walkable, make intra-city travel reliable, and we make inter-city travel accessible. We stop requiring individual consumption for our transportation needs.
Earth’s Greatest Enemy
Mark Carney announced that we are increasing our military contribution to NATO to 5% of GDP by 2035. In years past the NATO target was 2% and it was something that we had never reached. This year we have reached that target with $63 billion spent. This spending was instigated by Trump and NATO members have decided to fall in line (Beale. 2025). Earth’s Greatest Enemy is a documentary about US militarism around the globe. They are a global empire with around 1000 military bases imposing their dominance on the world stage. They have a current president who is a war criminal, sexual predator, child trafficker and abuser. We have a prime minister who campaigned on “elbows up” and decrying the current world order at Davos, yet is willing to bend to the demands of a man who sent an invading army into multiple cities in their own country. An army that we Canadians outfitted with trucks from our Roshel plant in Brampton, trucks that we saw on the streets of Minnesota this past winter (The Canadian Press, 2025).
I encourage everyone to watch Earth’s Greatest Enemy, and as Canadians I ask what are your values? Where do you draw the line? Are we willing to subject the rest of the world to the horrors of military oppression in order to stay in the good graces of a presidency that bends towards fascism daily? Are we willing to feed that very militarism and profit off of the turmoil caused by these machines? Or can we demand disarmament? Can we strive towards building machines that connect us rather than destroy?
I left that meeting knowing Kurt will still support GDLS. As long as there are well paying jobs in the region, his priority is the economic well-being of his constituency. Whether those jobs contribute to the oppression of other nations, or further exacerbate climate change, is of the concern for the Foreign Minister. My hope is that we keep working, we persuade Alto and the Canadian government to look at GDLS as the manufacturing plant for rail projects across Canada. These will be good jobs, and if Kurt really cares about the economic well-being of his constituency, then I look forward to see him work towards securing this national infrastructure project.
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