Ottawa promises to aid GM workers
Ford rebuked for calling for extra jobless benefits instead of saving jobs
The federal government is vowing extra help for General Motors workers as the auto giant prepares to close its Oshawa plant and shuns offers of aid to keep the assembly line rolling after December 2019.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made the promise Monday after talking to GM Canada president Mary Barra and Ontario Premier Doug Ford.
Ford called for extra employment insurance benefits and retraining as the automaker restructures to concentrate on next-generation electric and self-driving vehicles, a move that earned him rebukes for not fighting for about 2,600 Oshawa jobs.
“We will always support our workers,” Trudeau said in French, noting Canadian autoworkers are on the “front lines of innovative technology and clean technology that is the future of this industry.”
The Liberal government said it will consider “all options” and did not offer specifics on any potential help for displaced autoworkers.
Both Trudeau and Ford called the automakers’ decision “disappointing” barely 10 years after GM and Chrysler shared $13.7 billion in life-saving support from Ottawa and Queen’s Park during a devastating recession.
“We’re doing everything we can,” said Ford, who dispatched the province’s plant-closure SWAT team to Oshawa to start arranging job retraining for affected workers.
“We’ll do whatever it takes to make sure they get back on their feet.”
Ford also pressed the federal government to redouble efforts to get the U.S. administration to lift punishing tariffs of 25 per cent on Canadian steel.
The premier and federal Innovation, Science and Economic Development Minister Navdeep Bains said General Motors indicated no willingness to keep assembly lines running in Oshawa or any need for financial support to bring new product lines into the plant.
“At this stage they have not. They’ve said this is part of the overall global restructuring plan, that this is the path,” Bains said in Ottawa. “We’ll see what options exist to help the workers.” Ford was more blunt at Queen’s Park, saying he asked repeatedly if there is anything the province can do.
“I was shot down numerous times,” he said. “Basically, the ship has already left the dock. They didn’t ask for anything.”
Opposition parties said they expected more from Ford, who has been touting the “Open for Business” signs his Progressive Conservative government is erecting at border crossings.
“I’ve never seen a government roll over so quickly and throw in the towel,” Ontario NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said in the legislature.
Critics said the province needs a strategy to attract the auto industry jobs of the future amid fears that what happened at GM Oshawa could hit other plants in the province assembling traditional gasoline-powered vehicles.
They blamed the PC government for axing plans for electric vehicle charging stations and green vehicle purchase subsidies for motorists, and cancelling green energy contracts.
“That sends a signal to investors that Ontario is not embracing the economy of the future,” said Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner, MPP for Guelph.
“We have to skate to where the puck is going, not where it’s been. This better be a wake-up call to the premier to stop attacking clean-economy job creators.”
Jerry Dias, president of Unifor, the union representing autoworkers, said he was “shocked” Ford appears resigned to the closure and that he’s asking Trudeau to extend unemployment insurance benefits to GM workers to 50 weeks. (Workers at the Toronto Star are represented by a different Unifor union local.)
“Listen, this isn’t about an extra five weeks, it’s not about an extra severance, it’s about preserving the jobs in this community.”
A leading Canadian automotive consultant said GM is responding to huge challenges in electrification, autonomous vehicles, ride-sharing and subscription services with its Monday announcement to close Oshawa, four U.S. plants and three overseas, saving about $6 billion a year.
“All these are costing each and every vehicle company billions and billions,” said Dennis DesRosiers of DesRosiers Automo- tive Consultants. General Motors employs about 8,000 workers in Canada, including at an SUV assembly plant in Ingersoll, Ont., an engine plant in St. Catharines and a research and development lab in Markham.
“They do still have jobs in Canada, but this is a significant loss,” Bains said of the looming Oshawa closure.
Although Ontario Economic Development Minister Todd Smith blamed “15 years of mismanagement” from the previous Liberal government for the looming closure, Ford said he is not “pointing fingers” over the GM decision.
“They didn’t mention anything about hydro rates or labour laws,” the premier acknowledged before moving to defend his highway signs going up at border crossings.
“We have to tell the world we’re open for business because GM has left ... It’s terrible news, but we have to pick ourselves up and get back on our feet and be as positive as we can.”