Unifor President is warning that if the Oshawa plant does close, it will foreshadow the end of GM in Canada

Premier Doug Ford was in London today, announcing a $34 million investment in a new processing facility for Maple Leaf Foods, expected to employ 1400 workers by 2021. Seemingly good news for Ontario’s economy but salt in the wound for more than 2500 auto workers who lost their jobs after General Motors announced plans to shut down its Oshawa plant. Something Unifor President Jerry Dias believes is the first step towards shuttering all Canadian GM operations.

“With the ink not even being dry in the new NAFTA, knowing they have years before the new one is going to be implemented, in my opinion, just showed the President of the United States and the Prime Minister of Canada their middle finger.”

Dias also suggests imposing tariffs on vehicles coming out of Mexico into Canada and the U.S. as a way to get GM’s attention.

Prime Minister Trudeau says he spoke with GM CEO Mary Barra last night to express his disappointment in this decision. He says he is working with the Ford government to stop the Oshawa closure.

The former CEO of GM Daniel Akerson, backed up his successor today, “In my day, there were 3 shifts a day, we couldn’t make enough Chevrolet Cruzes. Today they are barely doing one shift a day and you will not make your economic break-even point with those types of utilizations.”

Akerson says Barra made the right decision in closing the plants, blaming it on a shift in consumer buying patterns.