After a lifetime of driving North American cars, I switched to a Korean import this year. Price was just one reason. It was heart-wrenching to give up the comfort and easy ride of my last Buick. Yet how could you stay with a company with no soul. The company broke faith with their founder, William Durant, and with his partner, Sam McLaughlin who, more than 100 years ago, created General Motors of Canada. GM finished their last Canadian-assembled vehicle (in Oshawa) this week.
We were supported by the Auto Pact that enabled Canada and the U.S. to share production. We were betrayed by the NAFTA agreement that sent assembly jobs to low-wage Mexico. We were betrayed by our politicians who did not get us the trade-offs when plants were moved and jobs in the hundreds and then thousands were lost.
But it is General Motors that lacks the understanding and the humanity here. When a company grows as big as General Motors, it becomes a larger fiscal entity than many of the countries of the world. With revenues in the billions of dollars, it becomes far more important than just quarterly returns to the stockholders.
We Canadians came to the corporation’s aid when it felt the effects of the financial crisis of 2008. Nobody complained about the production quality of GM’s Canadian plants. Canada stood by GM. There has been no quid pro quo! Only memories are left.
Years ago, we learned the lyrics of the commercial that asked us to “See the U.S.A. in your Chevrolet” and Canadians became staunch fans of the ‘working man’s’ (or working woman’s) favourite car.
But Americans are beginning to note that there are fewer Canadians travelling in the increasingly angry, divided and isolationist U.S.A. these days. There are fewer GM cars being sold in Canada. Nobody is arranging this sales resistance and nobody wants to be angry at Americans. When you treat people with indifference, as though they do not matter, the consequences come with time.
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Copyright 2019 © Peter Lowry
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