Article content

Ontario Premier Doug Ford has greeted news of GM’s departure from Oshawa with a bluntness that’s as in keeping with his character as it is politically unusual. In Question Period on Monday, he called it “absolutely devastating” — not just for workers on the assembly line, he conceded, but also for GM’s supplier base and all the service industries that rely on its employees.

He declined opposition leader Andrea Horwath’s offer to explain what he would do to stop it, however.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Chris Selley: A reminder that governments don't 'invest' in businesses. It's just corporate welfare Back to video

“I talked to the president of GM last night,” he said. “The first thing I said was, ‘What can we do? What do we have to do?’ He said, ‘The ship has already left the dock.’” Ford focused instead on the measures he would support to help those affected get back on their feet — the usual package of extended EI benefits, retraining and the like.

This doesn’t wash with Horwath’s NDP, naturally. “A real leader wouldn’t let GM cut and run after receiving so much public money,” Ottawa MPP and Leap Manifesto enthusiast Joel Harden tweeted. “This plant can be a place where we build the electrified transport of the future, but Ford is just giving up.”