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David Paterson, General Motors Canada’s vice-president of corporate affairs, said the Oshawa plant has some of the highest quality production and insisted GM has “outstanding” support from the Canadian government. But he said it was particularly vulnerable since it made cars and operated at one-third capacity for the past several years. GM chief executive Mary Barra is not prepared to run plants at that capacity when it needs cash to invest in self-driving cars and electric vehicles, Paterson said.

“Right now the auto industry is being massively disrupted and we’re trying to get ahead of that,” he said. “If the company doesn’t take bold steps to move to the new technology, then there won’t be any jobs.”

GM will also downsize the number of salaried employees, contract staff and executives in the restructuring. It comes as auto production passes a peak in Canada and the U.S., said Doug Porter, chief economist at BMO Financial Markets.

U.S. auto sales topped out at 17.5 million vehicles in 2016, but production fell to 17.2 million in 2017. BMO estimates it will slide to 17.1 million this year. In Canada, production peaked at 2.07 million cars last year and is expected to slip just below two million in 2018.

“Those are still pretty healthy numbers but it reinforces that we are past the peak in this cycle,” Porter said.

The Oshawa plant, which made the Chevrolet Impala, Cadillac XTS and previous generation Silverado and Sierra trucks, contributed six per cent of total Canadian auto production. In Ontario, the auto industry accounts for about 2.5 per cent of the GDP without including spinoff industries, Porter said.