The size of auto manufacturing in Canada will shrink as the Oshawa, Ontario GM plant is slowly decommissioned. 250o workers will be jobless. But the auto industry in Canada is still healthy, “We’ve added in Ontario since just the year 2000 about 60,000 to 70,000 direct automotive jobs and we’re losing 2,500 (at GM), maybe a few more than that if you include the supplier industry,” he said. “That doesn’t diminish just how well the auto sector in Ontario is doing,” says automotive consultant Dennis DesRosiers in a recent article in the Toronto Sun.
GM had to tighten its belt and build vehicles in existing locations with lower production costs. Canada’s aging plants and layered union wages makes the scale tip in favour of Southern US state’s plants with their lower cost of living, wages, taxes and land costs.
Canada’s auto industry should continue to focus on innovation and supplying parts manufacturing. In researching this topic, it was noted in the same Toronto Sun article that auto manufacturing left Australia with about 40,000 jobs lost over a course of about three years, and it didn’t plunge into a recession. A related article on the history of the auto in Australia is coming later this month.
Times are definitely changing, vehicles are energy-efficient and consumers are moving away from cars to smaller SUVs to compliment their active lifestyles. Technology and innovation is crucial. Ford is well-positioned to be a leader of change and Canada will benefit from their new ideas and advancements if we put education in science and engineering programs at the forefront of our schools, colleges and universities.