Ontario's premier is vowing to fight to keep the General Motors plant running in Oshawa, despite previous comments that there is nothing the province can do.
Premier Doug Ford met with Unifor National President Jerry Dias on Monday at the North American International Auto Show in Detroit to discuss what could be done about the plant's closure, which will result in job losses for over 2,500 employees. Ford called the meeting "productive" and said both men agreed it was in the province's best interest for the pair of them to work together.
Dias, along with Ford's opposition in the Legislature, previously criticized the premier throwing in the towel after he said nothing could be done to prevent GM from closing the plant in Oshawa. However, following the meeting in Detroit, Ford said he is planning to work alongside the union to reverse GM's decision.
"Our goal, obviously, is to try and keep this plant open and even extend it. If they can't keep it open, extend it for seven-nine months," Ford said in an interview with BlackburnNews.com. "That's what we're hoping for."
Dias has repeatedly called GM to reverse its decision to close the plant in Oshawa and has cited a recent report commisioned by Unifor that predicts 24,000 jobs will be lost across Canada if the plant closes. The report also states that provincial and federal governments will lose $1 billion a year in revenue if GM proceeds with its current plans.
"Maintaining this course of action will hurt workers, the economy and the company itself," Dias said on Monday in a news release. "It is not too late for GM to keep building vehicles in Canada, so Canadians will want to keep buying its products."
Ford blamed the plant closure on the previous Liberal government for implementing too many regulations to allow business to remain sustainable. He said every leader in the automotive industry he met with during the auto show on Monday was enthusiastic about his plan to cut 25 per cent of those regulations across the province.
"This decision [to close the Oshawa GM plant] was probably made two years ago when they were making a global adjustment," said Ford. "The government doesn't create jobs, they create the climate for companies to come in, and companies that exist here, to thrive and prosper and grow, and reinvest back into their employees."
Navdeep Bains, the minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development, said he met with GM Chairman and CEO Mary Barra during the auto show and urged her to reconsider the decision to close the Oshawa plant.
"I regret that GM's position on Oshawa has not changed, but our government has been clear from the start: we stand ready to play an active role to find a solution for Oshawa's workers and in shaping the future of the auto industry," said Bains in a statement. "GM is making a mistake by giving up on Oshawa's workers, and we're not about to do the same."
Ford said he also met with GM officials on Monday to make a "sales pitch" for Ontario. He is also scheduled for another meeting with the automaker on Tuesday.
"We're working jointly on making sure that we have the auto industry thriving and prospering in Ontario," said Ford. "It's not just GM, we have to keep an eye on the other big five manufacturers here."
According to Ford, the company is promising 600 additional jobs at the company's high tech facility in Markham and he added that GM plans to keep its OnStar facility open in Oshawa, which employs another 650 people.
Unifor has previously presented several ideas to General Motors to keep the Oshawa plant operational, however, the automaker rejected them last week, and said each option would be too expensive.
The Detroit-based automaker announced the closure of its Oshawa plant, along with four others in the US, back in November 2018. Despite the plant's closure, the company said it remains committed to Oshawa by keeping its Canadian headquarters there, as well as its Oshawa Technical Centre. GM also said it has spent millions of dollars helping the affected Oshawa workers access transition services.
-With files from Mark Brown and Paul Pedro
