Put conditions on GM’s departure

Re: GM to close Oshawa plant, leaving 2,800 people out of work, Nov. 26.

I keep hearing elected officials babbling away about how shocked they are and how their thoughts are with the autoworkers of Oshawa. Premier Doug Ford even mused about how they can work with GM to fix this problem.

Perhaps politicians should be telling GM that if it wishes to bail out of Canada, it has responsibilities to uphold before departing. One is that it must top up the workers’ pension fund so that it is fully funded and capable of supporting pensioners at existing levels and with indexation until the last GM pensioner is dead. Number 2 is that it must pay back any existing or past loans or bailouts, including any part of which may have been forgiven with interest since such loans were made on the assumption that GM would continue to make vehicles in Canada. Number 3 is to ask GM if it still wishes to sell its products in Canada and if so, then it is expected to make them here. Number 4 is that if it decides to leave, it will be expected to fund retraining packages for all workers who are losing their jobs.

It is time our elected officials stopped being wishywashy and shocked about multinationals that close up operations in pursuit of cheaper costs and more profits elsewhere. It is time they stopped being nice and showed GM their teeth. Robert John Patten, Orléans