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TORONTO — The Canadian auto industry is facing its biggest existential threat since the 2009 crisis, with the future of at least three plants at risk as autoworkers gear up to begin labour negotiations this week.

Unifor, which represents Canadian hourly workers at the Detroit Three, will open talks with General Motors of Canada on Wednesday and with Ford Motor Co. of Canada and Fiat Chrysler Automobiles (FCA) Canada on Thursday. The existing contracts expire on Sept. 19 and the union is already talking openly about the possibility of a strike.

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In some ways, this round of talks is even more critical — and contentious — than the 2009 negotiations that accompanied the government bailouts of GM and Chrysler, said Jerry Dias, national president of Unifor.

“During the ’08-’09 crisis, we were debating about keeping the companies alive on both sides of the border … there wasn’t a fear at the time of them choosing some operations over another,” Dias said in an interview.