The former mayor of Oshawa, John Gray, is telling Canadians to boycott General Motors if the automotive giant pulls the plug on the Camaro at its plant north of the border, the Toronto Sun is reporting.
“That’s the type of pressure that is applied so that GM comes to its senses and maintains production in Oshawa after next year,” Gray told the newspaper this week.
General Motors said it would end production of the Chevrolet Camaro at the Oshawa Car Assembly plant and move production to Michigan on Nov. 20. Gray said the move would end about 1,000 jobs at the plant, and dim the prospects of an already bleak future for the plant.
Increasing energy costs and other factors are driving automakers out of the area, Fiat Chrysler Automobiles chief executive Sergio Marchionne told Toronto reporters last week.
Local workers say the move would devastate the local economy.
“It doesn’t just affect General Motors, it affects the entire community. For every job inside, it affects seven jobs outside,” Chris Black, a worker at the Oshawa plant, told CTV.
Gray said GM is indebted to Canadians after the auto bailouts.
“Canadian taxpayers bailed out GM Canada, allowing it to survive. Recently, the federal and provincial governments have sold their shares in the company … Now they have no say over the company.
“Canadian taxpayers lost $3 billion on the sales of the shares. And now GM doesn’t plan on having a presence here. That’s a pretty compelling story.”
GM Canada announced in late April that the company would hire 100 software and control engineers for future connected vehicle endeavors. However, it won’t be until next year that GM will announce its plans for the assembly facilities.
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