Auto parts maker closes plants, 2000 jobs lost

Tag : automotive plastic

Please Add Comments(43)
Oliver
Harper and Flaherty,
This looks un-mistakably like Ontario's high taxes at work.Especially the US closings. Good thing your Alberta electorate isflush with cash, at least those votes will come in again. How aboutgetting looking at the country as a whole for a change and try tohelp the manufacturing sector...


Disgusted
Buzz Wake Up And Smell The Roses


Tara
I feel sorry for these non-unionized employees who are not going toget any payouts or any retraining. Good luck on new jobs!


Bill
Oliver why do you want to prop up failling companies? Why notinvest in companies that are working and producing jobs. There isno saving the auto sector if they do not want to be saved when arepeople going to recognize that the gas guzzlers are going away. GMseemingly has no plan so why support them?


Roger T
Here we go, 100 here, 200 there and the amount keeps piling up.WAKE UP HARPER - WE ARE IN A RECESSION!

All those staged speeches and positive remarks to re-assureCanadians is NOT WORKING. It's time to pump out jobs and money intothe economy not bicker with other trading partners in the world.

Expand trading to expand thoughts and move the economy for ALLCanadians.


EricB
I wonder how quickly this can be twisted to lay blame squarely onthe federal government.



Phil VT
Hey Tara,

If these workers were unionized the plant would have been closed 2years ago.

And Oliver,

Are you blaming Harper and Flaherty for Ontarios high businesstaxes? Do you watch the news? Everytime Flaherty opens his mouth heasks Ontario to lower taxes - McGuinty and company refuse to do so.If you are going to lay blame on anyone for Ontario's issues - layit on the Provinical gov't.


Rocket
Somehow the Canadian Auto Sector and supporting companies remindsme of corporate bulemia:

We go through a huge cycle of "binge" where gas is cheap, taxes arelow, the economy is booming, and people are buying lots of cars.

Then along comes the "purge" fueled by inflexible union leaders(Buzz), corporate greed, higher taxes, and a downturn in theeconomy.

In the end, the corporate fat-cats just slugh it off like it'snothing and continue to pat themselves on the back while everyoneelse (workers, families, and small business reliant on the bigguys) pay the price. Makes me sick how they are tread upon in thename of the almighty dollar.

Remember: He who dies with the most...STILL DIES!


Pete
It's unfortunate when something like this happens, because itaffects everyone in the family. With immediate layoffs there is nochance to look for another job so you can go from one position toanother. At least the workers at GM in Oshawa have a year and ahalf to get retrained for a different type of work if they choose.Most employees do not have such a luxury of time on their side.


Lunt
Hey Oliver - now you know what it feels like to live out West whena Liberal government is in place - the only difference being the PMcares about the entire country.


Captialism is killing us...
Roger T - ease down buddy, Whoaaaaa......

It is just that GM (AMERICAN COMPANY) got too greedy and didnothing about to improve its own company then it finally face deathto their own company for their lazy & crap products.

One big GM company is losing and many smaller companines like thisone depends on GM and their mistake is to invest in GM.

They should tried to sell their parts to HONDA - WAIT! Honda don'tgo for plastic because they're too cheap and crap like GM wouldbuild their car.

GM's losses is their loss.

I work for a major home builder and we are expanding big time andwe are not in recession and I can vouch that.


Bewildered
Wow now the union is resposible for the loss of non-union jobs too.Please explain how high wages and Buzz had anything to do withclosing these factories and the American ones. Fraser should payyou guys more


Murray
Everybody likes pointing the finger at this one and that one, whenif they take a long hard look it is still one industry that iscausing plant shutdowns and hard economic times and that is the gascompany..On the weekend gas in this community was 1.23 litre andthe reason???Cobourg had it's annual waterfront festival!!!Oilprices didn't come down gas did for this weekend in Cobourg!!Maybepeople should start looking at gas stations????


Oliver
Hmmmm.
The non-sympathetic comments from people who must have secure jobswho feel safe in their glass houses. 2000 families with no income,now needing social support (EI), not shopping, reducing economicpower, cascading to the service sector missing the business ofthese families, now that sector isn't shopping either, and so on.For the Feds to say everything is happy, AND posting another recordsurplus last reported quarter shows a lack of contact with thegeneral population's situation.

Bill, it's not about propping failing companies, it's about settingup a NATIONAL environment for success. This federal government doesvery little federally, but instead deals regionally in a ploy togarner votes specific to that region. AND how about tckling theimporters in the auto sector to ensure the same access to theirmarkets? Is this not a federal responsibility?

Phil,
Do you understand sarcasm? Do you watch the news? Do you understandtransfer payments and how without them Ontario must self generaterevenue? Do you understand how US closing as mentioned in thearticle cannot be an effect of Canadian taxation? Don't forget theLibs in Ont are cleaning up the Ont PC magic bookkeeping who inturn were recovering from the NDP spending...


bunny
It took a hit, because the auto sector didn't look ahead, and taxesare very very high in Ontario. Combine that with unions wantingmore and more. That is one reason we moved.


DWB
... and Dion and the McGuinty brothers think that a carbon tax isgoing to create manufacturing jobs in Canada? Get real.

Now the fat boys in the union who've had it so good at the expenseof the rest of us are going to have to do what Atlantic Canadianshave been doing for generations, take responsibility for your ownmisfortune and go West for work.

It's good for the soul and better than blaming someone else.



Johnson Mapple
One thing we can't avoid is the future and if a company cannotadapt to cope, it's a goner as we're finding out. The heavy debtload of this company built up well before the presentcircumstances. What was management thinking; that this would go onforever?


Max
We're merely witnessing the work of free-market capitalism'snatural economic measures to punish those companies that fail toadapt to (or even foresee) changing times, and those employees whotrust that a job is a job forever, despite industrial cycles,market conditions, and company performance.

I don't want my government meddling with this natural law (and,thusly, wasting my tax dollars). Economic strength, efficiency, andvitality can't be achieved while looking in the rear-view mirror.

The fittest always survive, folks. Too many people today employwishful thinking.




Karen in 'tha peg!
Just a thought...

Okay - people can't afford gas eating trucks... So then why notstop / slow down truck production and increase in more gasefficient vehicles?!? I'm thinking people still need cars right? Soif we just simply chop out a large volume of vehicle productionwithout replacing it - then the law of supply and demand comes intoplay and in a few years we the public will be jacked in the pricesof vehicles because there will all of a sudden be a "shortage"...

I don't know - just a thought... But when you think about it - kindof makes sense no?!?


WD
In my opinion it all comes down to the basics, Cost of oil goes upat a rediculously high rate, People and companies now have to startmaking decisions about where their money goes. I can't believe thatall levels of our government could not see this coming??? All I cansay as being an average Canadian who is also losing theirmanufacturing job to China/India as they sit on their "plumpbehinds" riding the gravy train through "Gastax valley" is HELP!!!


Pat_Pending
Ontario does not have high taxes compared to other provinces. Infact, we have some of the lowest taxes in the country. Furthermore,the Ontario government reduced taxes to the auto sector (which theFEDERAL government has refused to do). The problem is we have aFEDERAL government that does not give a damn about Ontario and usesTaxes from Ontario to buy votes in Quebec.

Every time the Conservatives are in office Federally, the Canadianeconomy suffers. It happened with Mulroney, its happening againwith Harper.


Steve
Wow, it looks like Ontario is now the weak link in Confederation.Good thing that when the Liberals get back in power they will stealfrom the have provinces again and prop up Ontario at everyoneelse's expense.


Bob
If this plant was making panels for Toyotas, Hondas or Hyundaisthese people would still have their jobs. The Big 3 of GM, Ford andChrysler are in serious trouble.


Doug BC
We're going into an economic slowdown.The sky is not falling here.Idoubt it has a lot to do with union or non union wages.But eve ifit did,you have to be thinking pretty small to think the solutionis either bailing out companies who can't compete successfully,orto have middle class workers work for less.It's way to easy toplace the blame on workers.
Canada is a very high cost environment to manufacture.In thepast,the competiton was mostly the USA.Now it'sMexico,China,India,etc.These countries not only have low wages,theyhave low taxes and some actually subsidize fuel and energy costs.
"Olivers" suggestion about a NATIONAL environment for success makessome sense.In any other country that might be possible.InCanada,however,ideas like that usually mean every other provinceobeys the colonial masters in Ontario and Quebec.Or,betterstill,gets Alberta to send free oil east.
Ontario is free to implement any economic plan it thinks willhelp.If higher business taxes,carbon taxes and even more handoutsto GM are part of that plan,all I ca say is "good luck with that".
In reality,we should ALL be grateful that part of Canada is seeingeconomic growth to counter the part that is experiencing difficulttimes.If we don't learn to enbrace that kind of diversity I expectthe concept of a united Canada may become a thing of the past.


Kudo
With high oil price, more concern on the environment. It is notwise for any town, city, province to rely its economy on producingcars. It is the time to learn something new. In fact the warningsign has been there for at least a decade... there is certainlyother cleaner, more well-paid job out there then assembling car (idon't think we do design in Canada...we just do the labours.) timefor a change, let's move on ..Ontario.


R H
Please stop blaming the high Cdn $. When you import products tomake the plastic moulded parts for cars and trucks, you get itcheaper. Whether you make the parts in Oakville, Rexdale orConcord, you sell in Oshawa, same Cdn $. No exchange rate there.Also, if these companies have been losing money over the last 2 or3 years, don't blame high Ontario taxes, companies don't pay taxeson losses. I blame Corporate Management Myopia,(near sightedness)How did Progressive Moulded products ever get to be $1/2 billion indebt, then cry the blues that their creditors stopped negotiations.Boo Hoo. I'll bet none of the top mangement of any of thesecompanies took a cut in pay over the last year or two, nor did theyforgo their bonuses. I feel sorry for the workers, but not thebosses. Maybe CCM is hiring.


Mark
Of course we have the echo of 'Wake up Harper' from the entitledcrowd. This is one of the main reasons that Ontario is in thispredicament-we've relied on a cheap dollar for so long that ourcompetitiveness and innovations have lagged WAY too far behind.

"Pumping money into the economy (as Roger T would have it) isexactly what fuels inflation. The solution is lower taxes (readthis Mr. McGuinty), innovation, competition and something somewhatunique to the unionists among us-RISK and REWARD.

The "I want my $40/hr, full benefits and retire early crowd" willbelow, moan and complain. Eventually the entrepenuers who EMPLOYthese people will solve the problem.

Government doesn't have any of its own money-it's ours. Lest weforget.


Linda in Vancouver
I'm all for helping the manufacturing industry,and even theprovince of Ontario.I'm still waiting for signs that they recognizethe problem and are taking steps to help themselves.
A simple start would be to make products people want to buy at aprice they can afford to pay.
And,even at that,it's pretty arrogant to think we will be thechosen ones and avoid the impact of a global economic slowdown.Nomatter who is in government in Ontario or Ottawa.
If the slowdown is global,and sustained,I expect overpricedresources to feel the impact as well.The fault can hardly be placedat the feet of either McGuinty or Harper.Neither one of which Iespecially care for.


art in calgary
future vehicles from the Big 3 to be built in Canada;

Dodge Challenger, 4,400lbs, 425HP HEMI.

Chev Camaro, 500HP?

whose to blame;
Feds?
Prov?
CAW?



Look after your own backyard.
It's about time we STOP "customers electing to move their businesselsewhere"!!!

There's beginning to be a lot of Canadians who sneer at the sightof a foreign vehicle...


david
Toyota and Honda continue to roll along quite well. Unions areanti-competitive


The Great West
Ontario!!! Now the shoe is on the other foot! For numerous yearsthe west has suffered as a result of your bullying of the federalgovernment to cater to your demands. Seems like everything you gotis now turning into ruins. Don't blame it on the west, you got allyou demanded in the past and more - now it's your time to sufferwhile the west prospers. DON'T look for hand outs from the west yetagain! Things will get worse before they improve - ride it out &don't bitch!


Frank Buchan
This has nothing to do with the Federal Government, and little todo with the Ontario Provincial Government (though more than withthe former). The problems in this industry also has only a minorrelationship to business tax rates. This is the end-result of yearsof serious mismanagement in GM, and the other North American automakers, who have fallen badly behind the markets. The only impactunion activity has on this is to accelerate the effect of those badbusiness decisions, by acting as a heavy resource drain. It's hardto blame the union workers for having taken what they could overthe years. We all operate on greed.

As much as I feel sorry for all the folks about to lose their jobs,I have to wonder how insulated they have been from reality if thissurprises them. This has happened before to people who had no greatbenefits at all, and a lot less pay. These folks have two choices:whine, or act. I would suggest the latter makes more sense.

As for Ontario being in good shape, that's fantasy. I left for thewest after 40 years because the policies of Ontario areToronto-centric, and purely political, with no long term economicfoundation. Tax-and-spend Liberalism is deadly to any economy, andjust exacerbates the mild downturn we are facing nationally.Ontario reelected McGuinty, and pretty much is getting what itdeserves for that decision because he is an old-schooltax-and-spend politician. It's a shame, but the responsibility lieswith the voters.


Paul B
"Pat_Pending
Ontario does not have high taxes compared to other provinces. Infact, we have some of the lowest taxes in the country"

Not sure where you are getting your figures. Ontario has thehighest tax rate for business of all the provinces.
And McGuinty never gave them tax cuts, he gave them subsidies,which they must now pay back because they didn't work.

Contrast that with Flaherty, who did give business a tax cut aswell as other incentives for R&D, and writeoffs for machinery.


kpec
Every body is playing the blame game, when truly it has beenCanada's overall lack of global competitiveness that has hurt ourmanufacturing sector. We still pay union workers $30/hr to sweepfloors and clean grease. The 90's were great because we had a 40%advantage on the American dollar. It will be hard during thetransition but with booming low wage economies through out theworld I say get rid of these overpaid under skilled positions andreinvest into education because smart employees don't stayunemployed for very long. And as for a recession in Canada, getreal I work in Vancouver and I could have 5 new jobs before I getto work every morning. Ontario is living in the past.


John
Having a roommate who lived in Oshawa the stories I have heardabout union/worker greed is astounding. Whole family's and groupsworking the system to get overtime etc... I believe that in thestates the American union saw the troubles coming and agreed to cutthe wages of those newly hired by half and gave incentives to thoseallready hired to retire. Canadian unions who have asked for moreand more, for years should have been more aggresive with slashingtheir entitlements and inflated wages that machines/monkeys arequickly replacing. Line assembly isn't exactly something worth topdollar now is it. Well come on out to Alberta, jobs galore here. Bea man and start your own business. For the record, I don't believein throwing money at a something thats broken, find a new niche orproduct to make like electrical/hydrogen cars. And anybody whothinks we aren't over taxed needs to take their head out of theiryou know where. Tax cuts are good, anybody who thinks they aren'tneed to take a little economics.


Angie
All of a sudden, there is no market for trucks and SUV's? When didthis happen. Go to a dealership and ask to order one. You will beon a waiting list because as soon as they are built and shippedthey are sold. Canada builds good quality. Go to a dealership inthe US. You will see GM products made in Mexico with engines thatdo not start and door handles that fall off. The dealerships arescreaming for canadian made. GM decided to take their productionout of North America and have it produced in Mexico, China andIndia. Cheap labour creates cheap products. GM doesn't care. Reducethe bottom line. Who cares about the workers.The GM workers allleave with a really good package. It is the non GM workers who losetheir jobs who will really suffer.
This was all planned ages ago. Long before our Government gave GM alarge bag of money to play with.
The really soaring cost of gasoline ocurred just before the OshawaGM situation started. Look around. Smell the coffee. Do you smellrats hiding in the background like puppeteers pulling our strings?


Peter
Funny how when times are bad for the west (usually caused by Ont),Ontario tells the west to shove off and makes them beg forhandouts. Now times are bad for Ontario and the only solution manyOntarians will entertain is to bleed the west to support deadindustries. How is that fair and how is that nation building?


GWallis
Dont forget that Europe has had high gas prices for a long timeand they have adjusted there vehicle manufacturing to account forthat with smaller displacement engines and smaller vehicles. You dorealize that GM and Ford have huge markets in Europe and they makegood small cars but they dont have the manufacturing capacity tomake a whole lot and ship them to NA and it takes time for us toswitch out the trucks and large sedans for the smaller vehicles.This company made huge investments in parts that he cant sell so hehas to reduce capacity and thats what happens when you put allyour eggs in one basket. This oil price thing is something that hasbeen short term and out economy is going to take a while to adjustbut it will and it will be better for it. $200/brl oil will do morefor conservation and GHG emissions than any amount of conservationor carbon tax or what ever will ever do. I herd that in 1999 whenOil was $9/brl Bin laden said that the US economy will suffer whenOil is $140/brl. He was correct but our people are resilient andwill adapt.


Guppies
Guppies,

The fuel cost is high but is not the major problem. I was in amarket to purchase 3 new vehicles to replace my old one.
But I stop searching after I compare the same vehicle selling atstate and Canada. They are at least 25% - 50% more. Not only GM,Honda, Toyota, BMW...etc all the same.


All other auto manufacture will soon follow. If they don't drop theprices.

My money will still in my banking account and their vehicles willstill out there and collecting dust.

The only time I see they have the vehicles on sale is to clear theold 08 models that no one wanted.


PB
Those who had been manufacturing trucks and big SUVs are inrecession. Too bad!
Our company is manufacturing anti-HIV and other drugs. It ishiring! We need more people and soon!
Those unionized workers who got $60K for pressing buttons orscrewing in the same screw into the the same hole for 20 years arenot welcome, though. Our work requires brains. There will be norecession for smart people in this country!


Kelly in Fredericton
Folks, this breaks my heart. I'm a middle-aged Canadian and I amdiscouraged at the attacks happening on the comment board. Ontarioagainst the west, the west against Ontario, Atlantic Canada ontheir own. Come on folks! Have you not forgotten we are onecountry? We are one body, when one part breaks others picks up theslack. But if everything doesn't work together to improve, then thebody dies.
I agree with all those who say to stop playing the blame game.These are our fellow citizens losing their jobs and most of thetime to foreign countries. Let's band together and define Canada asa leader in global economics. It's time for progressive, forwardthinking, change.


Son of a mill man
Every day for over a week now we've been reading about losses toOntario's auto industry. However, 17 000 jobs have been lost in thelast two years in B.C.'s forestry industry. Why no stories aboutthat?