Minister to meet GM CEO on Oshawa plant closure

OTTAWA — Canada’s industry minister will meet with General Motors CEO Mary Barra on Monday to urge her to find a solution for the auto giant’s soon-to-beshuttered plant in Oshawa. Ont.

A spokeswoman for Navdeep Bains says he will sit down with Barra at the International Auto Show in Detroit.

Dani Keenan says he intends to discuss any possible options for keeping the factory open.

Their meeting comes after GM’s announcement last fall that it plans to close the factory at the end of this year — a move that will put more than 2,500 employees out of work.

At the time of the announcement, provincial and federal leaders alike conceded the futility of trying to persuade the automaker to keep its Oshawa plant running beyond the end of 2019.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he told Barra that he was deeply disappointed about the closure and insisted his government would do everything possible to help laid-off auto employees and their families.

Meanwhile autoworkers from across Ontario vowed Friday to keep fighting General Motors’ closure plan as the company announced an improvement to its financial forecast for the year ahead.

Members of Unifor, the union representing the bulk of the 2,600 workers affected by the company’s plans to close its plant in Oshawa gathered in Windsor, Ont., to voice their ongoing opposition to the move.

The union brought members in by bus from Ontario communities several hours away, including Oshawa, Kitchener and Brampton. They gathered at GM’s Windsor headquarters to hold a rally during an investor’s meeting that was taking place in nearby Detroit, where the company announced its rosier financial prospects.

“We’re not a happy group here in Canada, and we’re damn well prepared to show you how mad we really are,” Unifor president Jerry Dias said at the rally.