“Very directly, Energy East is going to bring jobs to General Electric but GE will need new tools and new equipment to build those motors and they are going to look at companies like ours to build those tools,” says Don Barnet. “We’ll in turn look at our suppliers and they’ll look at their own suppliers so it’s really a trickledown effect.”

Though larger multi-national corporations typically star in the headlines, it’s the manufacturing sector and communities across Ontario that see the real windfall. Steelworks Vice President, Rhonda Barnet, estimates the contract will add several new jobs to the 27 currently at Steelworks Design, while the indirect benefits to suppliers 2 or 3 times removed from the original contract, will be considerably more. “Projects like Energy East bring direct high-value jobs to our community” she says.