The announced closure of a General Motors plant has prompted a local MPP to renew calls for a provincial auto strategy.
Windsor West MPP Lisa Gretzky stood in the legislature at Queen's Park Thursday to comment on the planned idling of GM's plant in Oshawa. She said the ripple effect of the closure will definitely affect businesses in Windsor-Essex.
"We will be feeling the economic impact of the Oshawa closure in Windsor too," said Gretzky. "There are over 300 local companies that are part of the Oshawa supply chain, mould-makers, tool-and-dye, part-makers and more."
Gretzky accused Premier Doug Ford of turning his back on Ontario's auto workers in the face of the Oshawa closure and for not calling GM on the carpet.
"My constituents are going to fight for auto jobs in Oshawa, in Windsor and across Ontario," said Gretzky. "They, we, are not going to give up as easily as they did."
In response, Ford rose and said the province certainly does have a comprehensive auto strategy, part of a jobs plan that encompasses all industries in Ontario. He pointed out that he personally visited with auto workers while touring facilities on a recent visit to Windsor, and they're telling him that they're paying too much in tax. Ford said that's something he's trying to stop.
"It's the same policies that the NDP supported their cousins, the Liberals, on 97 per cent of the time, because there's one thing the Liberals and the NDP love, and that's high taxes hurting the frontline workers," said the premier.
Gretzky's question came following one asked by her NDP counterpart, Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch, who mentioned that a lack of an auto strategy is concerning his constituents as well.
