GM will close the Oshawa plant, leaving 2,800 people unemployed: report

General Motors will announce the closure of all its operations in Oshawa on Monday, CTV News reported on Sunday, putting at least 2,800 people out of work and ending ties with the nearby city of Toronto dating back more than 100 years.
years.

CTV cited "many sources" for its report, which the National Post could not confirm immediately. The news was greeted on Sunday night social media with shock and disbelief.

The huge factory – modern – has 2,500 unionized employees and 300 non-unionized workers.

"My whole family worked at General Motors," said Oshawa's outgoing mayor, John Henry, at CTV. "My father was a foreman in the factory. I have two brothers in the factory. My sister worked there at the university. I worked there as an entrepreneur.

In the midst of anxious calls on Twitter for Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Ontario Premier Doug Ford to do something to save the plant, two local Conservative MPs pledged to investigate.

"Extremely concerned by reports of the possible closure of GM Canada Oshawa's operations," Durham MP Erin O'Toole said Sunday evening. He stated that he and Oshawa's neighbor MP, Colin Carrie, "were looking for information".

"I've seen the same reports that many in my riding, that GM could shut down operations in Oshawa, and I find these reports very disturbing," said NDP MP Oshawa, Jennifer French. , at Global News, which could confirm the CTV report. .

"If GM Canada is effectively turning its back on 100 years of industry and community – leaving workers and their families behind in Oshawa – it is a callous decision that must be fought," she told the network. . "The words can not completely describe the anxiety that my community is feeling at the moment."

The current plant opened in 1953 and produces the Chevrolet Equinox, Cadillac XTS, Buick Regal and Chevrolet Impala brands, according to the GM Canada website.

The workers – and other people in the city – held their breath only a few years ago when it appeared that the plant could close.

When the federal and provincial governments bailed out the auto industry in 2009, at a time when bankruptcy seemed imminent, the deal forced the Big Three to keep 16% of its North American production in Canada a requirement. which ended in 2016.

And just three years ago, Oshawa was a huge success when GM moved production from the Chevrolet Camaro to Michigan, cutting 1,000 jobs in Ontario.

While remaining the city's economic engine of about 160,000 people 60 km east of Toronto, GM operations in Oshawa are just a small vestige of the 40,000-strong monolith that once dominated the city. district.
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But car manufacturing in Oshawa dates back to 1909, when the McLaughlin car body company started making Buick cars, before combining with Chevrolet when General Motors was created.