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Ontario Premier Urged To Use Empty GM Oshawa Plant To Fight COVID-19

Oshawa MPP Jennifer French is urging Ontario Premier Doug Ford to use General Motors‘ empty Oshawa Assembly plant to support the province’s fight against COVID-19.

Oshawa Assembly interior in 2017

GM closed the sprawling, 5.1 million sq. ft. Oshawa Assembly plant last year, though it still uses a small section of the floor space for metal stamping and other manufacturing operations. In a letter sent to Ford’s office this week, French suggested leveraging the unused floor space to manufacture PPE and ventilators as the province continues to grapple with the coronavirus pandemic.

“We have a clear opportunity in Oshawa to rise to the challenge and manufacture what is needed during this unprecedented challenge,” French’s letter said. “The General Motors plant in Oshawa sits nearly empty, while an experienced, skilled and motivated workforce is ready and raring to keep frontline workers and communities protected in this fight.”

Oshawa Assembly

French pointed out that GM is using the empty Warren Transmission plant in Michigan to make face masks and has retooled its Kokomo, Indiana components plant to make ventilators. She went on to put the onus on GM Canada step up to the plate to help the province in a similar fashion.

“General Motors can make a huge difference in Ontario’s fight to slow the spread of COVID-19 and keep people protected during this global pandemic,” the letter also said. “This is not an ask for Oshawa – this is an ask for Canada.”

In a statement sent to local publication Oshawa Express, GM Canada pointed out that it is already making medical face shields at the Ontario Technical University and leveraging its parts operations at the Oshawa Plant to deliver them.

“We have our engineers supporting Ontario Tech University and (Ontario Power Generation) on the development of medical face shields and our first delivery of donated personal protective equipment is being picked up soon by the Public Health Agency of Canada from our Oshawa parts plant,” the company said. “We also have Canadian suppliers helping with the GM partnership with Ventec in the U.S. to manufacture ventilators.”

The automaker added that it is currently “looking at a number of other ways we can help and will share those details when appropriate.”

Ontario currently has 9,525 confirmed COVID-19 cases as of this writing – the second most of any Canadian province. Ontario is behind only Quebec in this regard, which had 15,857 confirmed cases at the time of publication.

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Sam loves to write and has a passion for auto racing, karting and performance driving of all types.

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Comments

  1. Premier Ford has shown to be an excellent leader through this, I never thought much or paid attention to the man, but unfortunate circumstance can show who rises to the occasion and who doesn’t. He’s been a force. I’ve heard Quebec Premier Legault has been excellent as well.

    Reply
    1. You can add the Prime Minister to that list also.

      Reply
      1. Trudeau has done well, but you put him and Ford next to one another and the stronger leader is clear in the Premier.
        Trudeau’s press conferences can be distracting due to his weak dramatisized tone. He really just often doesn’t come off as confident.
        On a global scale of country leaders Trudeau is put further the from the top. He’s by no means a Trump or Boris Johnson, but when you look at people like Merkel you see real strength.

        Reply
        1. Understood. I just felt like Trudeau has a calming effect on the country, unlike someone else.

          Reply
        2. You lost all credibility at Merkel. Good lord

          Reply

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