Compare and contrast: the lessons of Oshawa
Ford’s not Trump, and Morneau’s not planning for the future
The laziest and most discreditable political narrative to appear in Ontario over the past year is that Premier Doug Ford is nothing more than a slightly rounder, slightly less-orangey version of U.S. President Donald Trump.
This was a favourite smear of former Premier Kathleen Wynne, whom Ford trounced in last summer’s election. And it’s still repeated regularly by his many media critics and political opponents.
Surely, recent events in Oshawa can retire this insult forever.
General Motors’ recent announcement it’s shutting down its Oshawa car plant and eliminating 2,500 jobs was a big blow to the local economy, as well as to the prestige of politicians who style themselves as defenders of middle-class working folk.
If Ford really is Trump-of-the-North, the similarities here should be obvious.
Trump reacted to the GM event in his usual way. He interpreted bad news as a personal insult and responded in kind — by threatening the firm. “Very disappointed with General Motors and their CEO, Mary Barra,” Trump tweeted. “We are now looking at cutting all @GM subsidies.”
It has since been pointed out that GM isn’t getting any specific subsidies from Washington, other than industry-wide programs that cannot legally be denied to one company based on the whim of the president. So Trump’s response is basically hot air meant to signal anger, but accomplishing nothing.
Now compare that with Ford. After a lengthy phone conversation with the company, he came to the logical conclusion that there was little he could do to change the economics facing the plant.
“They’re gone. They’re done,” he said. “They told me straight up there’s nothing we can do. Absolutely nothing.”
Instead of venting or grandstanding — or worse, trying to throw taxpayers’ money at an unsolvable problem — Ford pledged his energies to making sure the displaced workers get appropriate benefits and retraining. He also vowed to work closely with Ottawa to make this happen, despite another familiar narrative that Ford is the de facto opposition party to the Trudeau government.
Ford’s response, in other words, was entirely practical and properly measured.
If we’re looking for the political actor doing all he can in the name of angry-but-pointless populism, the obvious candidate is Unifor boss Jerry Dias. It was Dias turning the dial up to 11 with nonsensical demands that Canadian politicians show their ‘middle finger’ to GM and slap illegal tariffs on vehicles made in Mexico.
“People can argue that somehow, jeez, you might be flirting with legalities. Don’t care,” the union leader told Global News about his crazy tariff scheme. Who does that remind you of ?
While we wait for Ford’s critics to correct their narratives to ensure activist Canadian unions are properly credited as being the true northern franchisees of Trump’s incoherent populism, there’s another comparison arising from the smoke of GM’s factory shutdown that shouldn’t be overlooked: GM’s Barra versus federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau.
CEO Barra said closing the Oshawa plant was a necessary part of her longterm plan to prepare for the rise of autonomous driving, electric vehicles and ride sharing. And she figured the best time to make such revolutionary changes is when GM is in decent financial shape.
“The industry is changing very rapidly. We think it is appropriate to get in front of it while the business and the economy are strong,” she told reporters.
Barra’s critics claim it’s hypocritical for her firm to have taken a $10.8-billion bailout from federal and provincial governments in 2009 during the Great Recession, and then turn around and shutter one of the plants the bailout was meant to save. But remember, 10 years ago GM was a lethargic and ungainly corporate beast incapable of reacting to changing circumstances. Her goal is to prevent such a thing from ever happening again. Sounds prudent to me.
Now consider the results of the recent 2018 fall economic update from Ottawa.
Morneau’s report begins with a deluge of happy news. “Canada’s economy is strong and growing,” it crows. Unemployment is at a 40-year low, wage growth positive, profits up, consumer confidence healthy.
It is the equivalent of an economic double rainbow. Surely with so much good tidings, a prudent finance minister would be socking something away for a rainy day.
But while the Liberals’ 2015 election platform called for “modest, short-term deficits of less than $10 billion” in the first two years of its term, leading to a balanced budget by 2019, Morneau is now predicting a $19-billion deficit next year, and many billions more in red ink into the foreseeable future.
Running massive financial shortfalls at a time when the economy is purring along nicely ought to be considered professional misconduct. The federal Liberals appear incapable of looking into the future and seeing a time when things aren’t rosy.
But when grimmer times arrive — and they always do — current Liberal profligacy means Canada will have a lot more difficulty taking decisive action. A reckoning is coming.
So while everyone wants to complain about GM, at least it seems to have learned the lesson of the Great Recession that still escapes Ottawa — the best time to make tough decisions is before things get tough all over.