Premier Doug Ford is vowing to protect and fight for auto workers at plants in Ontario whose jobs have become increasingly precarious in the face of devastating tariffs imposed by U.S. President Donald Trump.
Earlier this week, Stellantis Windsor Assembly Plant announced it was shutting down for two weeks starting on April 7, leaving thousands of workers in an anxious state of limbo.
Adding to the tension in the beleaguered Canadian sector, General Motors says it will increase truck production of the Chevrolet Silverado at its Fort Wayne, Indiana plant. The Silverado happens to be the vehicle produced at GM’s plant in Oshawa, Ont., raising the prospect of future layoffs.
Ford touched on the threats to the local auto sector during a visit to Orillia on Friday, where he provided an update on ongoing efforts to restore power to communities still affected by power outages following a devastating ice storm.
“We are going to be there to protect them,” he said of the auto workers.
“If the worst case happens (and they lose their jobs), we’re going to retrain them,” he vowed.
Trump has slapped a 25 per cent tariff on all foreign-made vehicles, and also added a levy of the same amount to Canadian steel and aluminum.
Ford stressed that Canada and the U.S. have such an integrated supply chain when it comes to vehicle construction, that any sort of tariff is detrimental to business on both sides of the border.
“The very clear message with President Trump, these parts go back and forth across the border seven or eight times. If one of these parts companies go down, it will shut assembly lines down on both sides of the border.”
“This whole tariff nonsense with Canada is the craziest thing I’ve ever seen,” he added. “It’s not Liberation Day, it was called Termination Day because American (jobs) will be terminated.”
Prime Minister Mark Carney said Thursday that Canada would hit back against Trump’s 25 per cent auto tariffs with matching levies on vehicles imported from the United States.
It’s a move Ford fully supports.
“We have two choices here folks, we will either roll over and let this guy run us over with a cement truck 15 times because they don’t care about us, or we get up and fight like we’ve never fought before. I believe in the latter.”
With jobs at stake and some forecasting a recession, Ford said Ontario can take proactive steps to soften the blow.
“It goes all the way back to the depression of the 30s — how do you get people back on their feet? Build. Build highways and roads, build the mines up north, our critical minerals … let’s continue building the hospitals.”
Speeding those projects up by cutting red tape is crucial, Ford said.
“All these projects, let’s move them forward,” he urged. “Let’s not take three or four years to get a permit.”
Ford did try to end things on an optimistic note, stressing that Canada was exempt from Trump’s so-called retaliatory tariffs that struck dozens of nations.
“The positive news – we weren’t on the list the other day,” he said. “Let’s move from there.”
