Mr. Speaker, I am certainly pleased to be here this evening to participate in this emergency debate. Of course, we are very disappointed at the news from Oshawa this morning. It started last night. It will have an impact, not only on Oshawa but also my riding of Whitby and the surrounding Durham region.
Before I go any further, I do want to commend the member of Parliament for Durham, one of the individuals who decided to bring forward this emergency debate. All three parties agreed to have this emergency debate this evening. I do also want to send my support to the member of Parliament for Oshawa. We work really well together, and I know that today would be a particularly tough day for him. I know he is in the riding. He is going to have a tough go, going forward. Both members represent some part of Oshawa. I do want to lend my support to them.
I also want to be sure to lend my support to my local MPP Lorne Coe, who represents Whitby and Oshawa, as well as MPP Jennifer French. At this point in time, we need all levels of government, all hands on deck, to ensure that we make a way forward. It is not a partisan issue, but one in which the people of Oshawa will see all levels of government and people across all sectors standing in solidarity and support of them. I want to first lend support to those individuals.
Throughout the day, I have been in many conversations with leadership across the community, across Durham. I have given them the opportunity to send me their messages so that I can make sure to get their message out in my speech today.
The first is from John Henry, whom we have heard many people talk about. He is the mayor of Oshawa, soon to be the regional chair of Durham Region. He said to me today that “lt takes a lot of great people to make great cars, but this today is not about the end product. lt is about the people who make these cars and their families.”
It is about the people. It is about the neighbours. It is about the individuals and their families who are impacted by this devastating news.
Before I go further, I want to say that I will be splitting my time with the member for Guelph. My apologies, Mr. Speaker, and I thank my colleague who reminded me.
Additionally, Heather McMillan also wrote to me. She is the executive director of the Durham Workforce Authority in Oshawa. The organization does great work in looking at data and the ways we can utilize it to see what our workforce looks like and how we are responding to various issues. I do want to thank Heather for not only weighing in but also for the work that she does. She said wrote to me that “The Durham Workforce Authority helps to mobilize and build capacity of our communities. We address workforce and training needs in areas experiencing workforce realignment. The Oshawa GM plant is one of the best plants in General Motors and we are disappointed with today's announcement. A closure and a layoff of this magnitude will have a significant impact on the local economy. This layoff will be a challenge for the community service providers. We will work with the union, the workers and the community to support these workers through this transition by supporting their transition to education, training and other employment.”
Lastly, as I mentioned, this closure is not just going to have an impact on the people of Oshawa, but also on the Durham Region and my riding of Whitby.
The re-elected mayor of Whitby, Don Mitchell, said, “The closure of General Motors in Oshawa is beyond devastating and disappointing”. I share that sentiment. He continued, “We recognize that this is an especially difficult time for all employees and families who have been impacted by the news. The automotive sector has been a vital part of the Canadian economy, including Whitby, for almost a century. Whitby is one of dozens of communities who benefited enormously from the growth, innovation and good, middle-class jobs supported by Canada's automotive industry. We will work together to support Canadians facing the loss of high quality, well-paying jobs.”
The mayor's sentiments are absolutely right. Oshawa has been the heartbeat of the Durham region, especially with GM there, an anchor to our community, providing good-paying, middle-class jobs, as the mayor said, for almost a century. We heard that from the member for Durham as well.
We know that the way this company has survived through the last 100 years is a testament to the resilience of the people who work there. It is a testament to the resilience of the people of Oshawa. It is a testament to their tenacity and their ability not only to make a thriving company, but also to make a thriving community within Oshawa and spread that across the Durham region. It of course had some impact in my riding of Whitby.
We heard people say today that they hope the doors will stay open at GM. I for one hope that happens. However, we know that no matter the outcome, the people of Oshawa and those in the Durham region will build back better. They are strong and resilient folk, and I know they will do that.
I will use the opportunity of this emergency debate to speak of the resilience of the people of Oshawa. I would like to refer a little bit to a letter from General Motors. GM wanted to underscore that today's decision had nothing to do with the performance of its Canadian workforce and the people who work at the Canadian facility. GM says its worker have done everything it has asked them to do, and that they have done it with high quality, outperforming business standards. We did not need a letter from GM to attest to that. We know that is the case simply from the work those individuals have done at the plant.
I know that the closures will, of course, not only make people in Oshawa upset and disappointed, but also may make others across the country quite nervous. I want to re-emphasize our government's support for the auto sector.
We heard the minister talk about the 500,000 direct jobs in the auto sector here in Canada.
In that regard, we have extended the automotive innovation fund to a $2-billion strategic innovation fund that attracts investment and keeps Canada's automotive sector competitive.
GM's decision was made because of a restructuring. It says that it is closing not only the plant in Oshawa, but also those in Detroit, Ohio, Maryland, and Korea.
We heard that this might be due to the price on pollution or the tariffs. There is no price on pollution in these other jurisdictions, and yet GM is closing plants there, so we really need to look at what is happening here.
I want to close with this. The member for St. Albert—Edmonton, in his earlier question to the member for Durham, wanted to talk about the opportunities. If, by chance, this plant closes, there is tremendous opportunity in the Durham region. We see the work shortages with the Ontario Power Generation at Darlington. We have seen our government make a $9.5 million investment in the climate wind tunnel at UOIT's Automotive Centre of Excellence. There is the capacity to really build back better, to harness the investments we have made so far and to make sure that Oshawa comes out of this thriving.
That is what I want to see. We want to be here to support the people of Oshawa to ensure they know that all levels of government will work together, across all aisles, so that at the end of the day we are here for them.
