Ontario premier says he'll push GM to save jobs

[Ghost Dog]

http://www.940news.com/nouvelles.php?cat=23&id=112257

Ontario premier says he'll push GM to save jobs in Oshawa; GM open to talks at 15:46 on November 22, 2005, EST.

TORONTO (CP) - There's plenty of time to keep a General Motors production line from closing down and taking 2,500 southern Ontario jobs with it, Premier Dalton McGuinty said Tuesday.

A day after the world's largest automaker said it will close one of its two car assembly lines in Oshawa in three years, McGuinty pledged to push GM to reconsider the move. McGuinty said he would like the company to instead explore new projects for the award-winning facility.

"We are going to work now, and fight as hard as we can, to ensure that we get a new product for that plant that is destined to close in 2008," McGuinty told reporters Tuesday before a Liberal caucus meeting.

GM Canada also left the door open Tuesday for the rescue of jobs in Oshawa.

"During that three years, we're going to study options for the plant, we're going to invest in the plant, and we're going to hope we can use that plant in the future for whatever products come up," David Paterson, GM Canada's vice-president of corporate affairs, told The Canadian Press.

"Three years is a long time and we're going to do everything we can to show the world that this is a great place to invest."

Oshawa's No. 2 car line - which Paterson said is often incorrectly referred to as a separate plant, even though it's housed in the same building as the No.1 line, some 50 metres apart - has won quality awards.

Seems as AH-HA said there is still a chance for OSHAWA 2 Edited November 22, 2005 by Ghost Dog

[Polish_Kris]

I never believe anything that comes out of Dalton Mcguinty's mouth.

[ehaase]

Seems as AH-HA  said  there  is still a chance for OSHAWA 2

[post="46937"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Hogans Heroes, who is even slightly better, says probably not.

[CARBIZ]

McGuinty fell all over himself to help Toyota add a new plant in Woodstock that will hire a lousy 900 people, then loses 4,000 jobs in Oshawa/St. Catherines. HELLO? IS ANYBODY AWAKE IN QUEENS PARK? The Oakville Ford plant is practically a museum. But keep on buying your Toyotas, people.

[Polish_Kris]

But keep on buying your Toyotas, people.

[post="47089"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

That attitude gets you nowhere.

[MGZ06]

HELLO? IS ANYBODY AWAKE IN QUEENS PARK?

Oh coarse not! that is a bunch of liberal B.S. . . talk is cheap!


I really hope these jobs can be saved.

[Cremazie]

I have a feeling that the Feds may even get involved in this. The manufacturing sector in Southern Ontario is very important, too important to erode. They were stating yesterday that for every 1 job in an auto plant there are 7 spin off jobs. In other words, that is a lot of tax dollars.

[CARBIZ]

Despite all the sudden press GM is getting about the job losses in Oshawa, the general public still isn't connecting the dots. PolishKris' attitude is indicative of the mood of the people. Do they care if someone who has been working in Oshawa for 15 years gets laid off? Again, the math: 3,900 jobs lost in Oshawa and Toyota picks up 900. Ontario's economy is probably as dependent on the auto industry as Michigan's is, yet people buy their shiny new Toyotas and believe they are buying an import on par with a Chevy. Forget about the history, forget about the billions GM has pumped into the Ontario economy for the past 75 years.

[Polish_Kris]

Despite all the sudden press GM is getting about the job losses in Oshawa, the general public still isn't connecting the dots.
  PolishKris' attitude is indicative of the mood of the people.  Do they care if someone who has been working in Oshawa for 15 years gets laid off? 
  Again, the math:  3,900 jobs lost in Oshawa and Toyota picks up 900.  Ontario's economy is probably as dependent on the auto industry as Michigan's is, yet people buy their shiny new Toyotas and believe they are buying an import on par with a Chevy.  Forget about the history, forget about the billions GM has pumped into the Ontario economy for the past 75 years.

[post="47384"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

I understand that, cause I have friends in school who have family members working in Oshawa. It is unfotunate and sad, but the imports have been here and strong since the 70s and 80s. 10 years ago, GM owned over 50% of the marketshare, they were laughing, now they fell apart, cause theyre just too big. It's not the worker's fault, nor Toyota's fault, ten years ago, people were into imports as much as they are now. Don't worry, I know how it feels when my mom got layed off over ten years ago when she worked at the Woolco head office, then Wal-Mart stepped in.

[CARBIZ]

GM hasn't had 50% market share in Canada for a very long time, not for more than 15 to 20 years. Actually, in Canada, I am not sure if GM ever had 50% - mid 40s, maybe. In the GTA, GM is at 16% market share, tied with Toyota. PolishKris, you should be concerned because it is your generation that is all going to work for Wal-Mart because all the industrial jobs will be gone. Toyota can set up shop, ship most of its parts from Japan, assemble the vehicle here, call it North American built and circumvent NAFTA. On a personal note, I simply resent Japanese trade practices. Nothing particular against Toyota, they are just following what any good business would, backed by MITI in Japan, as are Hitachi, Nippon and others. It is Washington and Ottawa who are the idiots. Until they wake up and realize our workers are being used as door mats by Japan Inc. more factories will close and more jobs will be gone. I would like to think that the service industries (banking, IT, insurance, etc.) will pick up the slack, but a country that can't BUILD anything will certainly be at a disadvantage politically, if not economically.

[Petra]

I never believe anything that comes out of Dalton Mcguinty's mouth.

[post="46981"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Ditto.

3,900 jobs lost in Oshawa and Toyota picks up 900.

[post="47384"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Ever stop to think that a plant can be run efficiently with only 900 workers? My question is: Why are there 3,000 other people working there?

[Polish_Kris]

GM hasn't had 50% market share in Canada for a very long time, not for more than 15 to 20  years.  Actually, in Canada, I am not sure if GM ever had 50% - mid 40s, maybe.
  In the GTA, GM is at 16% market share, tied with Toyota.  PolishKris, you should be concerned because it is your generation that is all going to work for Wal-Mart because all the industrial jobs will be gone.
  Toyota can set up shop, ship most of its parts from Japan, assemble the vehicle here, call it North American built and circumvent NAFTA.
  On a personal note, I simply resent Japanese trade practices.  Nothing particular against Toyota, they are just following what any good business would, backed by MITI in Japan, as are Hitachi, Nippon and others.  It is Washington and Ottawa who are the idiots.  Until they wake up and realize our workers are being used as door mats by Japan Inc. more factories will close and more jobs will be gone.
  I would like to think that the service industries (banking, IT, insurance, etc.) will pick up the slack, but a country that can't BUILD anything will certainly be at a disadvantage politically, if not economically.

[post="47570"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Allot of business before NAFTA were Canadian based, ever since that genious named Brian Molrouney opened up the borders, companies relocated to Mexico, like Nortel for example. Before NAFTA, US companies had to pay heavy tarrifs to bring stuff to Canada. Therefoe, there was allot of factories based here, giving people jobs. Now the US is treating Canada like the Northern Mexico. Americans own ALLOT of property up here. I don't know how much Japan Inc owns, but from what I know, Americans love to buy land here, and open warehouses, cause its cheaper to store materials here than the US. It goes on and on and on........ Oh let's not forget about the GST, that was introduced because Canada lost so much money thanks to NAFTA.

[CARBIZ]

Canada hasn't lost anything to NAFTA and Detroit didn't have to pay tarrifs due to the Auto Pact , but Japan did. The GST was supposed to pay off our debt, remember?

[CARBIZ]

Petra: read today's Sun pg 10: GM built 940,044 vehicles in Oshawa (2003) plus another 50,964 at the CAMI plant. Toyota built 227,543 vehicles.

[I hope GMRULES again]

Looking back at Monday's news it would of been hard for GM to announce all those closings without Canada taking some of the hit. So they say they'll give Oshawa 2 the chop and then after the new UAW contract in Sept. 2007 is signed there would still be a year left to line up new product for Oshawa 2. Healthcare is a big Canadian advantage and the dollar could drop down to more historic levels by then which would help our exports again. The whole Oshawa part of Monday's news smells fishy. I read somewhere the reason they were cutting back Impala production was to reduce the amount of fleet sales which are less profitable but the Impala is the #1 fleet car in the market so I don't get it. Plus in his speech Wagoner said production will cease at Oshawa 2, not close, but that's a bit misleading considering plants 1 and 2 are practically connected if they decided to retool the whole place for RWD cars they could knock down a wall and build almost as many cars as now. How is the new Impala selling in Toronto CARBIZ ?

[Polish_Kris]

Canada hasn't lost anything to NAFTA and Detroit didn't have to pay tarrifs due to the Auto Pact , but Japan did.
  The GST was supposed to pay off our debt, remember?

[post="47657"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Ya the debt Molrouney caused when he got rid of the tarif tax, lol. Now we have a surplus, and the Liberals aint cutting the GST.

[gilli]

McGuinty fell all over himself to help Toyota add a new plant in Woodstock that will hire a lousy 900 people, then loses 4,000 jobs in Oshawa/St. Catherines.
  HELLO?  IS ANYBODY AWAKE IN QUEENS PARK?
  The Oakville Ford plant is practically a museum.
 
  But keep on buying your Toyotas, people.

[post="47089"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

The oakville plant is in the process of being retooled to become a flex facility similar to ford's plant in chicago, when it is done it will convert the current truck and car plants in to one facility scheduled to build the next gen lincoln aviator and ford edge. The product is scheduled for a 2007 launch date.

The toyota plant while it may only offer 900 factory workers will essentially offer many more jobs to outside contractors in the construction of the plant and the eventual retooling that will be down several times over the plants life, this work is not usually done by factory workers so while it may only be 900 permanent jobs there are several other spin off jobs the new plant creates.

I also think it is important to note that many of the 4000 jobs will likely be lost through retirement as opposed to out right layoffs, which doesn't really hurt the economy as much as a straight lay off would.

[CARBIZ]

That is a nice spin, but there is no denying that as Woodstock/Cambridge/Alliston rise, Oakville/Oshawa are sinking - fast. We seem to be stuck on the assembly line jobs and the immediate parts spin off jobs. That is all that Japan Inc. will provide in Canada, let alone North America. It is all the higly technical jobs, such as metallurgists, engineers, etc. that are in Japan. If we lose those jobs (don't forget that GM recently opened a design/technical center in Oshawa), Canada and the U.S. will become nothing more than service providers to Japan Inc. It is these highly skilled/higher paying jobs that we can't see disappearing. Do you think Sony, Toshiba, etc. were first? No. They beat us at our own game by first dumping cheap electronics on the North American market in the 1960s, buying our or forcing out of business all the North American manufacturers, and only then did Japan's electronics become known as industry leaders- when they have no competition it is easy to be industry leaders. Zenith in the 1970s produced a far superior televison than anything Japan could build, but not at the dumping prices Now Zenith is virtually gone. We are seeing a repeat of history here and nobody seems to see the iceberg coming. And the IMpala is doing very well, actually. It is hard to keep the LS model or te SS model in stock. Great car. Customer feedback is very positive.

[Petra]

Petra:  read today's Sun pg 10:  GM built 940,044 vehicles in Oshawa (2003)
plus another 50,964 at the CAMI plant.  Toyota built 227,543 vehicles.

[post="47687"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

Duly noted. How many cars are scheduled to be produced at Woodstock (I'm assuming that figure is from Cambridge)?

[Cremazie]

Duly noted. How many cars are scheduled to be produced at Woodstock (I'm assuming that figure is from Cambridge)?

[post="49140"]<{POST_SNAPBACK}>[/post]

New plant to employ 1,300 team members; manufacture the RAV4 (100,000 units/year)

WOODSTOCK, Ontario (June 30, 2005) – Toyota (NYSE: TM) announced today that it will construct a new plant here employing 1,300 team members to build the RAV4 sport utility vehicle. The new plant represents an approximate C$800 million/US$650 million investment and will be Toyota's second Canadian assembly plant. It is the first green field automotive assembly facility in Canada in almost 20 years.

Additionally, Toyota announced an expansion of Canadian Autoparts Toyota, Inc. (CAPTIN) in Delta, British Columbia. As a result of the C$39.0 million/US$31.6 million expansion, wheel capacity at the facility will increase by nearly 17 percent per year, starting in July 2007.

The new plant will open in 2008 and will have the capacity to build 100,000 units annually. Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Canada, Inc. (TMMC) in nearby Cambridge, Ontario, will manage the plant. TMMC builds the Toyota Corolla and Matrix and the Lexus RX330 in Cambridge, where it employs 4,300 team members.

This new facility will boost Toyota's manufacturing employment in Ontario to about 5,600.

Katsuaki Watanabe, named president of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC) on June 23, discussed the new investment via videotape broadcast during the announcement.

"Twenty years ago, Toyota management made two profound decisions. We decided to make a sweeping commitment to manufacturing in North America. And we decided that Canada would be a core part of that commitment," he said. "This expansion will strengthen our ties further with suppliers and with other partners across North America."

Atsushi Niimi, the recent former president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America (TMMNA) and now a senior managing director of Toyota Motor Corporation (TMC), noted the benefits of the Woodstock location.

"This location allows us to capitalize on our outstanding operation 40 kilometres away in Cambridge. Its proximity to suppliers on both sides of the border will benefit both countries and it will mean new opportunities for those suppliers. Jobs will be created across North America," he said.

TMMC president Ray Tanguay, recently named a TMC managing officer, applauded the efforts and success of the existing Canadian work force and the job creation efforts of government officials.

"Today's announcement is truly a milestone," he said. "It is recognition of almost 17 years of manufacturing success in Cambridge, Ontario and opens the page to a whole new chapter for Toyota in Canada. As a Toyota team member, I am obviously pleased. As a Canadian, I can't think of a better way to kick off a national holiday."

TMMC has been manufacturing vehicles in Cambridge since November 1988. Original capacity was 50,000 units annually. By 2004, production had climbed to 288,000 units.

By 2008, Toyota will have the annual capacity to build 1.76 million cars and trucks, 1.44 million engines, and 600,000 automatic transmissions in North America. The company's direct employment is 37,000 and direct investment is nearly US$16.6 billion with annual purchasing of parts, materials, goods and services from North American suppliers totaling nearly US$25 billion. Toyota's North American-produced vehicles include the Avalon, Camry, Corolla, Matrix, Sienna, Solara, Sequoia, Tacoma, Tundra, and the Lexus RX330.