Mr. Chair, Canada has a proud history of being an auto manufacturing nation. In fact, Canada's auto industry contributes $14 billion to our nation's GDP. In Niagara, General Motors has been in St. Catharines since 1929, nearly 100 years. However, whether GM will be open for business in St. Catharines to celebrate its century milestone has been cast in a nervous uncertainty, thanks to President Trump's tariff war against Canada, which is targeting auto manufacturing amongst other key sectors of our economy.
I am GM proud. I drive a GM vehicle whose very engine was made in St. Catharines at our local GM plant by Canadian workers. In fact, I worked at that GM plant during my university years as a student. At that time, GM in St. Catharines had three plants employing close to 10,000 GM Canadian workers.
Today, our local GM footprint has been reduced to just one plant and a much smaller workforce, roughly 700 Unifor Local 199 members. As a Niagara area MP and the member of Parliament for Niagara Falls—Niagara-on-the-Lake, I have a responsibility to represent the current and former GM workers who reside in my riding.
Those proud GM workers were disgusted with the Prime Minister's reaction to a recent question he faced during the G20 summit in Johannesburg earlier this month, when he said, “Who cares?” and that he does not “have a burning issue to speak with the president about right now”.
I can tell members that Canadian auto workers and their families care and so too do all my Conservative colleagues. Just this fall, Stellantis announced that 3,000 Canadian jobs will be heading south to Illinois. A week later, GM announced that they are ending electric van production at the CAMI assembly plant in Ingersoll, making 1,200 auto workers jobless. GM also announced the elimination of its third shift in Oshawa, impacting roughly 1,000 workers.
According to the Center for Automotive Research, every job in the automotive assembly plant supports nine additional jobs. That is the highest external benefit multiplier of any sector in Canada. According to the Canadian Vehicle Manufacturers' Association, auto manufacturing accounts for more than 105,000 direct jobs in Canada, with the majority of these jobs located in Ontario. In total, the auto industry is responsible for over 603,000 direct and indirect jobs across the country. When we lose auto manufacturing jobs at assembly plants, the ripple effect it has on the supply chains across our economy is massive.
Last May, GM announced that it will invest $888 million into its Tonawanda propulsion plant, which is located just miles away from St. Catharines and across the river in New York state. That is investment that is not flowing to St. Catharines. That investment is benefiting our American neighbours in New York state. This is in addition to the $4 billion already announced by General Motors this summer. The American strategy is clear. It was echoed by the U.S. commerce secretary when he stated boldly that the U.S. wants auto assembly done in the U.S., period.
After eight months, the Prime Minister has gone from “elbows up” to “who cares” when it comes to trade issues with the United States. What is it it going to take for the Prime Minister and these Liberals to care? Harmful Liberal policies like the growth-killing EV mandate and the industrial carbon tax have added even more pressure on those trying to invest in building Canada in the face of unjustified tariffs.
It is the decisions being made by the government that are making the Canadian automobile sector less competitive. Unless the government takes action to reduce policies such as the industrial carbon tax and its EV mandate, which, to my colleague's point, only enriches people like Elon Musk at the expense of Canadian automakers, and if they do not take steps to correct that, it will not create the certainty so that automakers want to invest in Canada.