From Detroit Free Press
HAMILTON, Ontario — With automakers bypassing Ontario and choosing instead to build plants in the U.S. and Mexico, the Ontario government plans to spend $500 million Canadian (about $372 million US) over the next five years to entice automakers to invest in the province.
“It would be a huge mistake to take Ontario’s success in the auto sector for granted,” Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday at a news conference at McMaster University.
“Ontario faces unprecedented competition for auto industry investment,” he said. “We’re competing with jurisdictions around the world, and these people are extremely aggressive.”
The leadership of Canadian Auto Workers (CAW) has pleaded for more government support for the industry in recent years.
In early 2003, DaimlerChrysler AG’s Chrysler Group canceled plans for a $1.2-billion (CDN) assembly plant in Windsor, which would have created 2,500 jobs. The CAW and City of Windsor reported being devastated by the decision — one of several recent disappointments for the industry in Canada.
“The big thing I’ve been yelling for is, ‘Let’s stop the bleeding,’ ” said CAW President Buzz Hargrove. “We’ve lost three assembly plants. Our industry is in crisis, and we couldn’t get anybody in government to realize that.”
Although automakers applauded the new plan, opposition members said it was old money being shaped into new by Canadian Liberal Party members.
Last year, the former Conservative government outlined a $625-million (CDN) plan to encourage manufacturers, including pharmaceutical, aerospace, chemical and automotive companies, to invest and build plants here.
The new plan essentially replaces the old one and focuses it on the auto sector.
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