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There’s no way to sugarcoat that period. It was a horrible, ugly, stressful process

While it was always assumed that GM wouldn’t be left to die, it was a different story at its crosstown rival.

“There’s no way to sugarcoat that period. It was a horrible, ugly, stressful process,” said Reid Bigland, CEO of Chrysler Canada, adding that Chrysler’s chances of survival “were quite slim” even after it received government aid.

Dwight Duncan, then Ontario’s finance minister, remembers being called into a meeting with Mr. Bigland at the beginning of November 2008.

“We have a cup of coffee, and he casually says to me, ‘We won’t be able to make payroll for the first week of December,’” said Mr. Duncan, who came to the Ontario legislature from the auto-manufacturing hub of Windsor, Ont.

“It was one of those moments where your jaw hits the floor. Coming from Windsor, the significance for our local economy, not to mention the impact on the Canadian economy — I was shell-shocked.”

It was a moment in history when the auto industry world seemed to be collapsing on all sides. There was a new energy crisis, as oil prices hit US$150 a barrel in the summer of 2008, just as the U.S. financial system was beginning to spiral out of control. Credit markets froze up, which left countless customers unable to finance new vehicle purchases. The Big Three Detroit automakers — GM, Chrysler and Ford Motor Co. — were left with lots full of gas-guzzling SUVs and pickup trucks that they couldn’t sell.

“There was no cash available. The industry self-imploded,” said former Chrysler CEO Tom LaSorda.