The Big Three Appeal to Parliament

[Kitdy]

Well, looks like it might work in Washington, so why not Ottawa? (http://www.autoblog.com/2008/12/08/detroit-3-seeking-6-8-billion-from-canadian-government/)

Yes, the Big Three are coming to Canada for money and want a total of 6.8 billion. I'd like to see the Big Three CEO's in front of Parliament but I'm not sure how it works in our system to be honest.

The Premier mentioned in the article, Dalton McGuinty, is the Premier of Ontario, the economic hub of Canada and the centre of much of the auto industry in Canada.

I think it'd be funny if they got 5 or so billion as that'd be a third of that the US gave them and we have a tenth the population. Comical.

[baddabang]

Why not? How many manufacturing facilities do they have in Canada? It's not just effecting the American economy and jobs.

[Ferrer]

So, if (as it seems) American car manufacturers start receiving government money, does it means everybody else will probably too?

[cmcpokey]

there are a lot of mfg facilities in canada. one of my many hobbies is locating all of the car factories in Google Earth. and there are a very large number, especially GM. so a failure of the car companies woudl be catastrophic on canada's economy too. so this is not really a suprise.

[Kitdy]

It would be bad, very bad for Canada as we are your biggest trading partner and we have the article says around 100k jobs in the industry in Ontario alone - Ontario has 12 million people so 100k people in trouble would be a very bad thing.

I've mentioned it before but it seems wrong, but I think I read that Ontario is the largest sub-national producer of vehicles in the world - more than even Michigan (this seems to make little sense however).

[Matra et Alpine]

I think it's OK for a multinational to look to another country for assistance AS LONG AS they don'ty use it to prop up "home" or corporate. After all, the pull all the profits from the country back to corporate HQ. Don't see it as "fair" that they look for the handouts !!

[f6fhellcat13]

I think it's OK for a multinational to look to another country for assistance AS LONG AS they don'ty use it to prop up "home" or corporate. After all, the pull all the profits from the country back to corporate HQ. Don't see it as "fair" that they look for the handouts !!

I think big three US and big three CAN are one and the same.

[Lets Gekiga In]

Why not? How many manufacturing facilities do they have in Canada? It's not just effecting the American economy and jobs.
New York Sooners fan?

[blingbling]

oh wow now they are coming north how pathetic seriously, just wow

[Wouter Melissen]

oh wow now they are coming north how pathetic seriously, just wow

I agree, it's not like they employ hundreds of thousands of Canadians.

[Dino Scuderia]

Excerpt:

Closing the two Canadian plants would be a devastating blow to Ontario and especially to Windsor, which has already been battered by thousands of job losses at Ford and GM operations in the city.

It would also lead to the loss of tens of thousands of jobs at auto parts makers in the two cities and elsewhere in the province. Chrysler Canada president Reid Bigland said last week that 420 suppliers in Canada account for 50,000 jobs.

reportonbusiness.com: Chrysler turns up the heat on Canada (http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/LAC.20081209.RAUTOSCANADA09/TPStory/Business)

[clutch-monkey]

did anyone else find the speech bubbles on the pic used by autoblog quite hilarious?

[LeonOfTheDead]

did anyone else find the speech bubbles on the pic used by autoblog quite hilarious?

yeah, I liked them.


It seems like GM and Cerberus are threating Governments: give us your money or we will lead you to dust.

not that bankruptcy implies the loss of all the jobs, just of the redundant ones, getting rid of the various inefficiencies going on there.

the trick is: employ as much people as you can, then you can do whatever you want, governments will be always going to save their populations.
great.

[Kitdy]

I think big three US and big three CAN are one and the same.

Sorta, we got like GM Canada, Ford Canada, Chrysler Canada, they all have HQ's I think in Ontario. GM Canada is in Oshawa, Ford is in Oakville (the traffic reports frequently reference the Ford Plant in Oshawa as that is where the 403 meets the QEW and is a choke/reference point.) Chrysler I am not sure. Wiki says Windsor. Oakville and Oshawa are west and east of TO respectively, both are in the GTA or Greater Toronto Area - the GTA being an urban conglomeration.

[blingbling]

chrysler is in brampton ain't it?

[Kitdy]

chrysler is in brampton ain't it?

The Brampton Assembly plant is - I drove beside it yesterday in fact. HQ is Windsor so they say though.

[Kitdy]

Harper and McGuinty seem to have come to an agreement and the federal government (of Canada) and provincial government (of Ontario) will be announcing later today the terms of a bailout package to follow the US one. Both parties say that the bailout will be proportional to the market - with Canada producing about 20% of North American cars, following the US's lead we may see about 1/5th what they gave so say 4-6 billion (Canadian) dollars.

[wwgkd]

Well, that worked out nicely. I'm not real happy about the situation, but I do think this is the best way to go. Here's hoping they put it to good use.

[Kitdy]

GM has turned down 3 billion Canadian dollars (http://www.autoblog.com/2009/01/25/gm-turns-down-3b-canadian-bailout/) saying they were gonna focus on self recovery but may still draw the funds later. They need a proposal by the 20th of February that includes wage reductions of workers to get the money I think.