dbd33

Fair enough, I don't think he's primarily responsible for the economic upswing since he took office any more than this set back.

Partially discharged

Oh but you can be sure he'll take all the credit for it as he alone is fundamentally responsible for all the good economic news but none of the bad.

A critter of the first order.

BristolUK

Autocorrect?

Oakvillian

While there's no doubt that GM had decided to restructure their entire global manufacturing operations some time ago, and these closure announcements are the result of those realignment decisions, there's a certain unpleasant irony that GM is focusing on electric and autonomous vehicles, and the plants being shut down are in jurisdictions whose governments have made it very clear they don't believe in any of that green-energy, zero-emission crap.

Doug Ford removes all incentives for electric vehicle sales in Ontario, and GM announces a plant closure in Oshawa a couple of months later. Coincidence? Yes, of course, but the conspiracy theorists (yes, the left has them as well as the right) are already working the rumour mill to steer thinking towards causation rather than correlation.

Siouxie

There's a HUGE new grow op in Cobourg, reportedly will be the biggest facility for growing and processing marijuana in the world - perhaps some of them can get a job there. FSD Pharma

Regardless, Ford are doing the same thing in the US - closing facilities - and according to the faceless wonders on their FB pages it's all the fault of Mr T, lol. How about many of these vehicles no longer make a profit.. and many of the vehicles are so expensive people can't afford them any longer!

Shard

Read the Global News article. What does it mean that the union boss plans to put up "one hell of a fight"? Is there anything they can do once a firm like GM decides to restructure?

cheeky_monkey

He has more chance of surviving a firing squad

Partially discharged

Not really but it makes him/her look good and buys them some time.

I, in general, never agree with anything that the ultimate champagne socialist, Michael Moore, has to say but he was being interviewed on MSNBC in the last day or two and what he had to say about GM was quite poignant. Basically, Trump got totally played by GM and in his pre-election campaign time he said to the voters of Michigan 'if you elect me, not one job will be cut by GM, not one plant closed by GM' etc. He said this in Warren, MI literally a 5 minute walk from one of the plants to be closed. Not sure how he thought he could ensure that a private sector industry behometh could/would adhere to that rhetoric but the Trump MAGA voters lapped it up back in 2016.

Shard

Didn't know that. I like Moore. His first movie, Roger & Me, was all about GM from what I recall. Trump did inherent a good economy, if he gets a second term he will bequeath something quite rotten.

rawsalad

Doug Ford is waaay too busy finding ways to hire his cronies into plush high-paying jobs in his government.

rawsalad

Wouldn't surprise if Ford knew this weeks and weeks ago when GM most likely lobbied for Ontario to carry on the subsidies and he probably thought "they wouldn't" and then GM did. In the UK you get incentives for hybrid-vehicles through car duty reductions, lower tolls and zero congestion charges - so hybrids are booming there. In Ontario there is now zero incentive to pay the premium for a hybrid vehicle - it's no wonder GM threw in the towel.

scrubbedexpat091

Its not all doom and gloom. The types of jobs are shifting though from blue collar to tech based.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/gm-...hawa-1.4931107

Oakvillian

And I see in yesterday evening's news that Hydro One's proposed purchase of Avista, a power utility in Washington State, has been vetoed by the State government on the grounds that "it is evident that decisions affecting Hydro One's and Avista's business operations and financial integrity are subject to political considerations," in the aftermath of Ford's forcing of the previous CEO to resign and subsequent stuffing of the board with his cronies. Another stunning victory for Ford Nation. So much winning....

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toron...over-1.4934282

scrubbedexpat091

And it will cost Hydro One $103 million I believe since the deal did not go through.

rawsalad

That is in addition to the vast sum the province will pay the ex-CEO redundancy.

Also, not 1c off the hydro rates yet. But plenty of cronies being helped into plum jobs and business mates getting help to pollute a heck of a lot more at tax payers expense too. But will he be forgiven if, in four years, the economy is booming?