Seeing as three trainsets will essentially be orphans to the rest of ONR's rolling stock, having them serviced with VIA's fleet makes sense. I suppose the Ontario government could have signed a maintenance contract that would see them serviced in the north, but it would have been much more expensive, particularly if it required modification to the car and diesel shops. For three trainsets, they would be no doubt duplicating a lot of expensive equipment and facilities.
For people who will be upset at the frequency, be happy it is returning - with brand new equipment - a lobby to change it.
I doubt where the equipment is serviced is going to move many votes one way or the other.
As for refurbishing contracts, if ONTC wants to play in the game, they have to be competitive. I think they are a lot better than they used to be after the scare of being broken up and sold. Dodging a bullet tends to focus the mind. Metrolinx could probably get away with sole-source the work to it's sister government agency, but I thought we wanted governments to spend wisely. People both applaud and condemn TTC for choosing Bombardier (Alstom) because it keeps jobs in Thunder Bay.