Union leaders and politicians "sell false hopes" to GM: Ford

Union leaders and politicians who are talking about saving a General Motors plant in Oshawa, Ontario, are selling "false hopes," Prime Minister Doug Ford said on Wednesday, accused by a spokesman for the opposition. politicize the closure to attack the federal government carbon tax.

Ford held a press conference after an emergency cabinet meeting on GM closing Wednesday afternoon. The prime minister accused Jerry Dias, the union leader representing the auto workers concerned, as well as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and other politicians who had promised to fight the closure.

"When we hear about these people, all we hear is a group of very powerful people," he said. "They are busy fighting and raising false hopes, but privately they know that the GM factory will not come back."

Ford said the upcoming fight for the 2,500 auto workers affected by the plant's imminent closure is finding new jobs, and he promised to help them in this task.

He added that he thought the cabinet was considering this move for a long time and had speculated that if he had been prime minister before the June elections, he might have been able to avoid the closure .

"GM has not decided that in the next six months that Doug Ford has taken over," Ford said. "In fact, if Doug Ford had been there for five years, they probably would not have left because I would have reduced their taxes, their electricity rates … and made it attractive that businesses stay here. . "

At the press conference, Ford asked Trudeau to abandon his plan to impose a carbon tax on the provinces to boost job creation in Ontario and overall from the country. He invited Trudeau, whom he will meet at a conference of prime ministers in Montreal next week, to abandon the carbon pricing plan.

"You can not campaign for an employment-damaging carbon tax Monday and sit down and ask yourself why jobs in the manufacturing and automotive sectors are disappearing on Tuesday."

Ontario's environmental party leader Mike Schreiner said Ford was wrongly linking the closure of GM's Oshawa plant to pollution pricing.

"Politicizing the closing of the GM plant for an anti-climate crusade is irresponsible," said Schreiner. "Instead of attacking the clean economy, I call on the Prime Minister to seize this $ 26 trillion economic opportunity, and I invite him to work with stakeholders to develop a clean economy strategy. the automobile in Ontario in order to lead the revolution (electric vehicle), losing jobs to the jurisdictions that adopt electric vehicles ".

Dias fought back on social media at Ford, disputing the claim that it was more a question of looking for another job for the affected GM workers.

"Finding new jobs?" Seriously – is this the best that can be done? Dias said in a brief statement on Twitter.

Met in Washington, DC, by a Toronto television channel, Dias responded to Ford's "false hope" by saying that the prime minister was offering "no hope" to workers in the auto sector and must be ashamed of himself.

NDP lawmaker Jennifer French, who represents Oshawa at Queen's Park, said community families had a year to fight against GM's decision – and plan to do so.

"I would never give false hope to anyone, but I will never give up on them," she said. "There is a big difference, we are facing an uncertain and bumpy road, but there is always something to defend, the Prime Minister underestimates Oshawa."

Earlier Wednesday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the federal government would continue to fight for Oshawa workers. He has also championed the federal government's carbon pricing plan as a job creator.

"The best way to secure jobs for the future is to take concrete action against climate change and help our economy and our families prosper throughout the transition to a cleaner economy", he said during question period. "MPs across the way have no plan and are trying to do politics instead."