Closure of Oshawa GM Plant

[80watts]

The closure of the plant means an slump in the economy in the area of Oshawa. The plant closure will affect local businesses. The loss of the heavy industry will lose valued and skilled workers. With the closure of the plant it mean loss of tax revenue to the city, who will have to make it up somewhere or cut services.

At the same time the article I read, said that GM will be enlarging existing lines in Mexico and China in order to bring more SUV/trucks to market because sedans weren't selling.

Is this the start of an Ontario economic slump? They are still recovering from the last time they major car companies shut down factories.

Maybe they should look at rapid transit between cities (Toronto, Ottawa, Montreal, Windsor), tied into a self-powering (solar and wind) grid to power the transit system?

I think its a good idea to start the oil pipelines up soon. Maybe open a new refinery here in Canada.

Canada has to get away from selling raw materials and start making goods that people will buy.

 

[Oldfart]

Drilling down on the closure of several GM factories including the one in Ontario, this points out a major shift in society. Fewer people are getting drivers licenses and buying vehicles. Those who do are moving towards greener engines. Today's cars are fading away like horses and buggies did 100 years ago.

 

[Gardener]

Elon Musk needs to step in and take the plant over for Tesla production. The new "econo" Tesla sedan has a massive amount of people who made $5k deposits for the vehicle but there have been production issues largely because of the lack of a centralized assembly plant. It would be a win win for the people of Oshawa and for future Tesla owners. Just sayin'

Model 3 production issues sorted. Running at approximately 20k vehicles per month, which is right on plan. They are also building another plant in California. Doubt they’ll be the saviour of Oshawa.

 

[Big_Guy_Rye]

Elon Musk needs to step in and take the plant over for Tesla production. The new "econo" Tesla sedan has a massive amount of people who made $5k deposits for the vehicle but there have been production issues largely because of the lack of a centralized assembly plant. It would be a win win for the people of Oshawa and for future Tesla owners. Just sayin'

Elon Musk has been kicked out of his own company by his shareholders because he was smoking weed with Joe Rogan (and other mis-management issues too)

 

[80watts]

The problem is the trend for cheaper wages for company profit. Any type of heavy manufacturing is going to cheaper wage countries. Heavy Industry is dying in Canada, sorry I should close to dead...

The Canadian economy is mostly based on natural resources... forestry, mining and agriculture, Energy production (hydro). The problem is Canada is big (large landmass). Its building roads/transportation to the mines (resources). Forestry, well most old timber is cut down, alot of sawmills have shutdown in the last 20 years. There is no ship building in Canada that is substantial, unlike the US any country can go from 1 port to another in Canada. In the US to go from port to port (in the continental US) the ship has to be reigistered in the US, and built there.

A former PM owned Canada Steamship, most of those ships are registered in another country....

Need tougher laws. Its not tariffs, its access to our ports. How to transport from port to port.

For Forestry, cut back to 20% raw lumber export, rest has to be manufactured or face export fee. Trees with tight circles make the best paper (tight dense cellular) cause of the cold.

For mining stockpile 20 to 30% minerals as a reserve. Raw materials don't need to be stored in heated buildings, but manufactured products do.

As for steel, Canada should never import steel or iron, we should be a world exporter but aren't because of labour costs.... Modern industry depends on steel for pipeline, buildings (highrises), vehicles.

Look at a car, most of the weight is in the frame and engine, everything else is plastic ( an hydrocarbon). Manufacturing used to be based on mold, or machining down metals.

Now manufacturing can be based on 3D printing in plastics or metal (very limited here). This is the future of technology and Canada economy along with its vast natural resources.

Look at Russia, when communism fell in the 80s it had vast stores of diamonds (the diamond giants made a deal with them so they didn't flood the market with cheaper diamonds) and special metals like titanium.

The problem in Canada is that our natural resources have been given away.... Raw logs, coal from bc,

Canada should be making energy grids (renewable engery) , and not give away energy like BC hydro did to California....

So much that could happen but Canadians lack the political will, or some factions takes them to court over their hurt feelings....

 

[tedsweettangv]

You have to wonder why if the plant is only running half capacity or less they couldn't retool it to make EV's.

 

[badbadboy]

You have to wonder why if the plant is only running half capacity or less they couldn't retool it to make EV's.

EV's don't appear to be part of GM's business plan. They discontinued 6 cars including the Volt. They see trucks as their key product offering now.

http://fortune.com/2018/11/26/gm-di...cruze-impala-buick-lacrosse-cadillac-xts-ct6/

What really bites is the write off of $5B of loans to GM that went unpaid. If you are going to accept these tax dollars to keep your business afloat, you'd better be in it for the long haul. Various reports indicate Oshawa might be the first of a few closures by GM.

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.4920729

 

[licks2nite]

Want to see either Honda or Toyota take over the facility in Oshawa. Want to see GM dealerships retooling to new brands.

 

[overdone]

Drilling down on the closure of several GM factories including the one in Ontario, this points out a major shift in society. Fewer people are getting drivers licenses and buying vehicles. Those who do are moving towards greener engines. Today's cars are fading away like horses and buggies did 100 years ago.

no, they are just not buying cars, trucks/suvs

and globally, vehicle sales are increasing

Model 3 production issues sorted. Running at approximately 20k vehicles per month, which is right on plan. They are also building another plant in California. Doubt they’ll be the saviour of Oshawa.

plan? lol, 240,000/yr, that's a month or so of just Canada's production, not to mention the US/Mexico, how long they still waiting for their orders? 1yr? 2? lol

You have to wonder why if the plant is only running half capacity or less they couldn't retool it to make EV's.

because no one wants EV's, despite the media hype, no one's buying them, there's a reason why the electric car didn't take off over 100yrs ago

look at the market share, it's around 1-maybe 2%


hybrids are a better choice, total electric, the idea isn't there yet, the range is useless

want to see something that makes sense

https://driving.ca/mitsubishi/outla...lar-plug-in-outlander-challenges-rv-orthodoxy

 

[sevenofnine]

you know,

they got a bail out, them and dodge
tax payers money, how many fucking billions lost to dodge and gm

and ford no bail out, no taxpayers money, no plants closed.
maybe the fucking government should stop supporting companies with bad management and wasting tax dollars.

and stay the hell out of the oil business and let them build pipelines just get the fuck out of the way of the oil industry

alberta is the only oil region in the world that is so fucked up like us, can't get the oil to market, the government throwing road blocks every step of the way.

stop protecting stupid companies stupid American companies working in Canada.

quit sucking up to the amercians play fucking hard ball for fuck saks.

 

[80watts]

The problem with EV is the recharge cycle - most people don't have the foresight to recharge their vehicle and wait 1 to 2 hours. Its okay overnight, but what happens when you are doing alot or running around the next day. With gas it takes 10 min to fill and its done.

Next is how comparable is the cost of electricity vs fossil fuel for cost? And where are you gonna get the electricity.

oops a rant...Take a look at downtown Victoria, its plan is to build bike lanes, not build any more parkcades, which leaves EV cars on roads with no place to charge them...Bicycles are supposed to obey traffic laws, but they made new law and lights, now when stopped at a red light I cant turn right because of a bike lane, because I might hit a bike.... who fault is that the dumb ass bicyclists who got hit in the past whizzing up and passing on the inside , while a car turned right..... People being rewarded for their stupidity.....

Its true, Canada has to get its act together. Sometimes you just have to say fuck it. I have the perfect plan for politicians and pollution, get them together first hand..... breath that smokestack air, breath deeply and die maybe of cancer....

There was an article on CTV about Ontario and its reduction of carbon before 2030. Its falling behind. Companies won't spend money on correcting it, maybe its time we send them(the executives of companies) to workcamps (not jail), cause all that pollution that goes up the smokestack is preventable, there its technology out there to clean the air and water... Companies want profit not pollution control.... The news even suggested that he governmnet pay for pollution control- which is a crock of shit.

Canadians are gonna have to tighten the rules, (maybe their belts a bit too) in order to turn the enconomy to a healthier state....

A person needs food, shelter and clothes....everything else is a luxury.... and beer and MJ are taxed to keep the hordes in control while making money at the same time.... (just hear kids saying --what about my music and TV programs), mindless masses, just what any government wants....

 

[Gardener]

GM has made shitty cars for decades, full stop, period, end of story. People don’t want shitty cars

Passenger cars and in steep decline, trucks and suvs are dominating

Ford has announced they are stopping production on all cars except for the Mustang. Trend is clear.

For the people who still don’t feel that EV’s are the future. Look at announcements from virtually all global manufacturers. Just last week VW announcements a new $50 billion investment into their EV platform. Follow the money