Ontario Government Ready To "Invest" In The Auto Industry

Derek Kreindler
by Derek Kreindler

A day after a government commissioned report about the auto industry surfaced, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty told reporters that he would seek ways to help assist the auto industry as a thank you to the province’s “…leading goal scorer”.

They put the puck in the net over and over again on behalf of the Ontario economy. We need to find ways to ensure that they remain healthy. Mr. McGuinty made the comments after speaking to a business audience at the Bloomberg Canada Economic Summit in Toronto.

Despite Ontario’s increasingly bleak economic situation (the government has been compelled to make significant budget cuts, and the province’s credit rating has been downgraded by major ratings firms), both Ontario and Canada’s federal government are investigating Ford’s plan to spend $1.2 billion upgrading the Oakville, Ontario assembly plant. Ford wants government assistance for the plan, otherwise they say they won’t go ahead with the upgrades. McGunity credited the resilience of the auto industry during the recession because “…because his government has worked hand in hand with it.”

Meanwhile, the head of the CAW is already g oing on about their “ national auto strategy” as the CAW prepares to enter into contract talks with the OEMs this summer. With plants running at well over capacity across Ontario, the CAW is in a good position to bargain with automakers. Any injection of government funds will happen some time down the road. The CAW negotiations will be the more interesting story in the short term.

Derek Kreindler
Derek Kreindler

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  • Dr. Claw Dr. Claw on May 09, 2012

    I imagine the comments to this thread are going to go off the rails... does TTAC enjoy trolling its readers, I wonder?

  • Srogers Srogers on May 09, 2012

    Since ol' Dalty buddy used hockey references for this, I can't help but be for it!

  • Daiheadjai Daiheadjai on May 09, 2012

    Was the use of a photo-op in front of a GO train (you know, Ontario's public transit of choice/necessity for suburbanites) an accident, or are you being ironic?

    • Nick Nick on May 10, 2012

      Doesn't matter...Dalton probably can't tell a train from a car anyway. He's wrong about everything else, so why not transportation.

  • Herm Herm on May 10, 2012

    Is that guy on the left with the safety glasses a beer swilling union goon or a member of the Canadian Secret Service (if there is such a thing) protecting the Premier?.

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