Photo Courtesy: Colin Williamson
KAWARTHA LAKES-Local politicians are weighing in on the closure of the General Motors Assembly Plant in Oshawa in 2019.
Haliburton Kawartha Lakes Brock MP Jamie Schmale issued the following statement on Monday afternoon:
Local MP Jamie Schmale was shocked to learn that General Motors announced a global reorganization, which will affect the jobs of over 2,500 Canadian workers and their families. The move will have far reaching consequences as thousands of jobs in related industries, such as auto part manufacturing and customer support, are now at risk.
GM Canada is responsible for directly employing 4,856 people in Oshawa. Many of these employees commute from several communities across Haliburton-Kawartha Lakes-Brock. In addition, GM Canada pensions support approximately 30,300 hourly retirees and 7,000 salary retirees.
“I am gravely concerned for the thousands of workers and their families who are now receiving this news and are coming to terms with how this will impact their lives,” said Schmale. “As such, my Conservative colleagues led the call for an emergency debate in the House of Commons and I’m extremely thankful to the Speaker for granting this request.”
“We are not prepared to give up on the people employed by General Motors and we intend to press the Liberals for a plan on how they will respond to the thousands of people out of work and how they will protect remaining manufacturing jobs in Ontario,” said Schmale.
“Now, more than ever, we know that if we don’t fight for these jobs today, they won’t come back tomorrow,” said Schmale. “To that end, we need to push to increase investment attractiveness in Canada, in order to create a business-friendly environment for future generations.”
“For a century, GM workers have contributed to the economy of Ontario and bettered their communities as coaches, volunteer firefighters and neighbourhood leaders.”
Haliburton Kawartha Lakes Brock MPP Laurie Scott released this statement:
I am saddened to hear that GM Canada has made a strategic business decision to close five production facilities across North America, including the Oshawa Assembly and four plants in the United States. My heart goes out today to all of the workers and their families impacted by this decision, especially those impacted by the closure of the Oshawa site.
Hundreds of GM Oshawa workers and retirees call Haliburton – Kawartha Lakes – Brock home. Over the years, I have met many of these hardworking men and women. They are dedicated employees who have every reason to be proud of the great work they have done over the years to build the Oshawa Assembly into one of GM’s best production facilities. Many are also deeply involved in our communities as volunteers.
Our Government is taking immediate action to assist affected autoworkers. We are deploying Employment Ontario’s Rapid Re-Employment Training Services, which will assist workers with accessing services and employment opportunities. Premier Ford has also asked the Federal Government to extend EI eligibility to 50 weeks and double the length of work sharing agreements to 76 weeks. We have called upon all three levels of Government to work collaboratively to assist affected GM Oshawa workers and their families with this transition.
My constituency office is available to assist affected GM workers and their families with any questions or concerns. You can reach out by e-mail at [email protected], or by phone at (705) 324-6654.
Rumours began to swirl on Sunday afternoon that GM was going to announce the closure of the Oshawa Assembly Plant on Monday. Monday morning the company announced it was closing a number of plants including the one in Oshawa, putting almost 3000 people out of work.
