Danielle Smith: Another bailout for GM? No way

Whenever ordinary people are hurt by decisions beyond their control, I feel sympathy.

In Alberta, we feel the pain every day. It is unfortunate, then, that workers at the GM Oshawa plant were abandoned by both their federal government and their union leadership by the imminent closure of their plant.

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It is unfortunate that the federal government is focusing more on reducing carbon dioxide emissions and social justice-based identity policies than in negotiating trade agreements that make Canada an attractive place to invest.

With a renewed USMCA, it is now clear that GM would prefer to produce its popular North American brands in the United States or Mexico than here.

As far as the extension of electric vehicle manufacturing is concerned – that's why they said they were cutting the plant – it makes more sense to produce it where people want to buy it – in China.

In fact, should the federal government not be happy about the upstream and downstream emissions reductions that will come from that closure?

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News Release regarding the announcement of the closure of the General Motors Oshawa plant

Unifor boss, Jerry Diaz, is now full of ideas on how GM could change its strategy to produce more popular cars in Oshawa. Bring back the Camaro! Perhaps he should have spent his time working on this problem rather than launching a platform a few weeks ago by declaring Unifor the new resistance and "Andrew Scheer's worst nightmare" in the next federal election.

Or maybe Unifor leaders should have focused more on defending jobs in the auto sector rather than trying to remove jobs in our industry. energy. Recall that Unifor had been actively campaigning against the construction of the Trans Mountain Pipeline, even going as far as to seek intervener status at the National Energy Board hearings.

Listen: Danielle talks with James Robson, Vice President of Operations at Canada Action, about the Calgary Oil and Gas Rally

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It is true that the workers at the Oshawa plant have been released, but it is not infuriating to think that the union leader thinks that one of the solutions is for the federal government to intervene with a plan. safety.

After all, where can Ottawa get all the changes needed to dump money into social protection cases of companies such as General Motors? Taxpayers from Alberta – in a typical year, we are giving Ottawa $ 20 billion more than federal transfers.

So, let's take a look at what most Albertans think of the prospect of a GM bailout.

Tim from Drayton Valley, who previously worked in his oil services business, did not even have enough work to do it himself. Brad, from Slave Lake, told me that his trucking company had had to lay off 100 people. The loss of jobs in these communities is just as important as the job losses in Oshawa, and no one intervenes to give Tim or Brad money.

Listen: Danielle Smith speaks with Aaron Wudrick, Federal Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation

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GM fails in Oshawa because it makes cars that consumers no longer want. Our Alberta businesses are failing because the federal government can not come together to approve pipelines so that we can sell a product that the world wants.

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It is unfortunate that 2,300 workers in Oshawa lose their jobs with the closure of the GM plant. It is unfortunate that the Ontario economy is losing $ 5 billion a year with the closure. It is also unfortunate that the federal and provincial governments are losing about $ 900 million a year in combined taxes.

But it's even sadder to see that because we can not build a pipeline, Alberta's economy has lost more than 100,000 jobs, our economy is losing $ 30 billion a year, and our governments are losing billions of dollars. tax. Let's have some perspective, please.

Danielle Smith is the host of Danielle Smith's show on Global News Radio 770 Calgary. She can be contacted at [email protected].