Industry Minister Melanie Joly says the federal government is forming a new “response group” along with members from the Ontario government after General Motors announced it will cut production in the province.
“Obviously tough news this morning for the workers in Ingersoll for GM,” Joly said, referring to GM’s announcement that it is ending production of its BrightDrop electric delivery van in Ingersoll, Ont.
“I had a conversation with the Canadian CEO of GM this morning. I had a conversation with the head of Unifor, who represents the employees, and a conversation with Doug Ford and Vic Fedeli, his minister of economic development. We’ve decided, all together, that we would be creating a new response group,” Joly said, adding that the focus of the group would be to keep the jobs in Ontario.
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The company says the decision is related to low demand for the product, and it won’t be moved elsewhere.
GM halted production at its CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll in April but it was slated to restart in November with a single shift.
There were about 1,200 unionized workers at the plant before production was suspended earlier this year.
The company says the electric delivery van market has developed much slower than expected, and that the changing regulatory environment and end of tax credits in the United States made the business even more challenging.
The CAMI plant was the first full-scale electric-vehicle manufacturing plant in Canada and received funding from both the federal and Ontario governments.
–with files from Canadian Press
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