Industry Minister Melanie Joly says the federal government is forming a new “response group” along with members from the Ontario government after General Motors announced it will cut production in the province.
“Obviously tough news this morning for the workers in Ingersoll for GM,” Joly said, referring to GM’s announcement that it is ending production of its BrightDrop electric delivery van in Ingersoll, Ont.
“I had a conversation with the Canadian CEO of GM this morning. I had a conversation with the head of Unifor, who represents the employees, and a conversation with (Premier) Doug Ford and Vic Fedeli, his minister of economic development. We’ve decided, all together, that we would be creating a new response group,” Joly said, adding that the focus of the group would be to keep the jobs in Ontario.
Joly said during question period in the House of Commons on Tuesday that the response group would proceed with “the goal to bring back a new model to Ingersoll.”
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The company says the decision is related to low demand for the product, and it won’t be moved elsewhere.
GM halted production at its CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll in April but it was slated to restart in November with a single shift.
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Joly says Feds plans ‘response group’ as General Motors cuts production at Ingersoll plant
There were about 1,200 unionized workers at the plant before production was suspended earlier this year.
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The company says the electric delivery van market has developed much slower than expected, and that the changing regulatory environment and end of tax credits in the United States made the business even more challenging.
The CAMI plant was the first full-scale electric-vehicle manufacturing plant in Canada and received funding from both the federal and Ontario governments.
The Conservatives hammered Joly and the Liberals on Tuesday over GM’s announcement, which came a week after Stellantis said it was moving production of its Jeep Compass from Brampton, Ont., to Illinois, threatening 3,000 Canadian jobs.
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Conservatives want to know if Stellantis deal had a jobs guarantee
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“How does the prime minister look in the eyes of the very workers that he sold out and betrayed,” Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre asked during question period.
“He will look at the auto workers in the eyes and he will say, we will fight for your job,” Joly responded. “That’s exactly what we’re doing every single day.”
Poilievre shot back that Joly’s meetings with industry, union and government leaders aren’t yielding results or action.
“Canadians are tired of talk,” he said. “They want their jobs.”
Conservatives on Monday successfully passed a motion at the House of Commons government operations committee to review the contracts Stellantis signed with the federal government since 2015 to see if they included explicit provisions to protect Canadian autoworkers.
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Pressed by Opposition House Leader Andrew Scheer on whether the government secured such job guarantees in a recent deal for upwards of $14.6 billion in financial support, Joly said committee members will soon find out.
“They will discover that indeed, we negotiated well, and indeed, Stellantis is on the hook,” she said.
However, Joly later suggested the financial support was contingent on production at a future battery plant Stellantis is building with LG in Windsor, which “has not necessarily happened yet.”
Joly last week told Stellantis in a letter that the government would consider all its options, “including legal,” to hold the company to account for its move to the U.S. and protect Canadian jobs.
–with files from Canadian Press
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