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Ontario Premier Doug Ford says he is taking his open-for-business message to Detroit this week as he meets with auto executives at a key trade show.

“We mean it when we say we are open for business,” Ford tells me before he departs for Motor City.

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It’s an easy message but a tough sell in a climate that sees jurisdictions compete for auto jobs.

Ontario is no longer the biggest exporter of motor vehicles to the United States, that is a title that Mexico claimed and won’t be giving up any time soon.

Mexico has more plants and more manufacturers than Ontario and then there is the competition from states in the American south like Alabama and Texas.

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So while Premier Ford wants to sell Ontario, it will be a tough job as he meets with executives from GM, Chrysler, Ford, Honda, Toyota and Magna on Monday and Tuesday.

Ford tells me he’s not there to push GM to keep the Oshawa plant open — a decision he believes was made more than a year ago — but to push for more auto manufacturing to be set up here in the future.