OSHAWA — Good news story or bad?

This created a heated debate on the streets of Canada’s motor city Wednesday.

Whatever your view, instead of closing things down, General Motors will invest $170 million to create 300 new jobs in a new business model that will replace the 2,600 jobs that will be lost in the plant’s closure.

Glass half full or half empty?

“Both,” said Unifor national president Jerry Dias.

He would have preferred to have joined GM Canada president Travis Hester in announcing a new line of car to built at the historic plant instead of the last car to come off the line at the end of this year.

“But I know this business well enough to know a new car does not just fall out of the sky,” said Dias.

On the upside, however, if one ever does — Oshawa’s plant won’t be shut down forever but instead transformed into something new.

“We look at this as a start of something new to keep a footprint in Oshawa,” said Dias.

“In the years to come there will be many more jobs than the 300 but we know there have been many sleepless nights over the people who will be losing their jobs.”

Hester was clear on the point that GM has no immediate plans to manufacture cars in Oshawa.

“GM plans to be one of Oshawa’s leading companies and employers for many decades to come,” Hester told media at the Marriott Hotel Wednesday.

“We’re now not going to be a vehicle manufacturing facility, but one which will transition into parts and innovation.”

Innovations like driverless cars that will be experimented with at a soon-to-be-built 22-hectare test track.

Hester said the “aftermarket parts” business could see companies like Magna or Martinrea Automotive Systems use their stamping or painting operations.

Oshawa Mayor Dan Carter understood the two ways of looking at it, but chose to see it as a good day.

“We think the investment and forward thinking aligns well with what’s happening at the Ontario Tech University and Durham College,” said Carter.

“We appreciate the history of General Motors in Oshawa and are also excited for the future.”

As much as there are many who loathed to admit it, it’s unlikely any of this would have happened without Dias’s determination.

Dogged and sometimes belligerent, but in war mode, he shamed General Motors to find a way to save some jobs.

He didn’t care who he offended. Premier Doug Ford was one he lambasted. GM President in Detroit Mary Barra too.

He even lead a boycott campaign encouraging the Canadians who purchase 300,000 General Motors cars a year to stop.

Dias also criticized GM for participating in “slave labour” at plants in Mexico which he called “corporate greed, plain and simple.”

On Wednesday, he told the Sun he needed to do all of that “because I knew if we didn’t fight we would get nothing at all.”

What he did get was received by mix reviews at the plant gate.

Some workers said they were “sold out” and encouraged people to buy import cars.

Others said it was better than turning off the lights for good.

“It’s just to save face,” said Jeremy Dwyer, a soon-to-be unemployed 17-year plant veteran.

“This is not going to save our jobs.”

But a 35-year worker named Mike said “I think saving 300 jobs is a positive thing and somewhere to grow from.”

Dias said both members are right.

jwarmington@postmedia.com