The tariff wars and shutdown of Canadian automotive plants have become a hot issue recently, and they reminded me of articles I previously published in Boomerbroadcast. The problems have been brutally brought to our attention with the fiascos at Stellantis and Stelco Steel. Instead of moaning and crying in our Labatt’s Blue, it’s time we pulled up our bootstraps and tackled the problem with some creative solutions. Canada has everything we need to overcome this situation—the resources, the leadership, the skilled labour force, and the intestinal fortitude.

I recently came across a post I published eight years ago (December 2018), and my message still holds water today. With the screwing we’re taking from the United States, government tariffs, and plant closures by major American auto manufacturers in Canada, I see an opportunity to turn manufacturing plants into producers of public transit vehicles like buses, trains, subway cars, and military defence vehicles for the entire world. We retooled during WW2 and we can do it again. Here’s an edited version of my 2018 post:

Help and Hope For Canada’s Auto Industry

The solution to closing automotive plants is simple. Go into competition with Bombardier. They seem to have more business than they can handle, very little competition, a guaranteed source of financial handouts from various levels of gullible government (taxpayers) and no particular business or management skills. Ouch! Anyone can do better than that with a little business savvy, some creative thinking and an already available source of skilled workers. The recent news that Bombardier is laying off 7,500 workers worldwide, including 2,000 in Canada, prompted me to revisit a piece I wrote earlier.

During my lifetime, I’ve watched automotive manufacturing plants grow and expand with new technologies to meet market demands, then retreat and ultimately close. I worked for EllisDon Corporation, the construction company that built a major portion of those Ontario plants. To see Oshawa’s General Motors operation go from almost thirty thousand employees to a few hundred people is heartbreaking. Ford has also closed facilities in southwestern Ontario, and we’re all familiar with the Stellantis fiasco in Brampton.

Put the workers in Oshawa and southwestern Ontario back to work and let them show the world how it’s done. Small fortunes were spent updating auto manufacturing plants in Ontario, and they’re now sitting idle, waiting for cannabis growers to lease the space and sell the automotive equipment for scrap metal. Does anyone have any influence with General Motors, Ford, Honda, Stellantis, or Unifor? Put in a word. Better still, put the kettle on and sit down at the kitchen table and make this idea work.

It’s a perfect storm and has all the ingredients needed to launch a successful business enterprise to capitalize on strong market demand for both present and future products, a skilled workforce, existing manufacturing plants available for retooling, tested financial metrics, a solid business case, and a shortage of existing reliable manufacturers. All that’s needed is a smart team to pull it together, and we’re in business.